Mr. Waterton's Way. 27 



about birds and other creatures, which usually arose 

 from his accepting some preconceived idea, and trying 

 to make all facts bend to it ; and one of these is a 

 certain dogmatic statement in one place about the 

 cayman. 



And Waterton, too, was very fond of a practical 

 joke, as his "manlike monster" clearly proves, still 

 misleading good men and true. 



Mr. Waterton's deliverance, cited by Dr. Charles 

 Creighton, as authoritative and final, vv'as made to 

 bear far more weight than it was in any way entitled 

 to. Dr. Creighton, in a burst of triumphant scepti- 

 cism, in effect, cries out : " If this takes place why 

 are we not presented with photographs of it ? — that is 

 the one way to convince us. As for artists like Mrs. 

 Blackburn, they can draw what they please — all out 

 of their own brains : we can't trust them, or such as 

 them." Well, just as this book was being put into 

 type, comes the Feathered World, of 14th July, 1899, 

 with two photos of young cuckoos throwing out young 

 birds, due to the patience, care and well-directed 

 enthusiasm of Mr. John Craig — whom all the world 

 will thank for so far decisively setting this matter at 

 rest. It is not so easy to do a thing of this sort — 

 a nest must be chosen, carefully watched, and the 

 psychologic moment seized without any faltering — 

 everything ready and nothing wanting. Mr. J. P. 

 Miller's photographs are decisive enough for the most 

 sceptical, and anew demonstrate that to carry a preju- 

 dice against vaccination and its founder to the point 

 of rejecting reasonable evidence on a question of 

 Natural History is at all events not a very scientific 

 or philosophical procedure. 



