RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



NO. I. 



From early youth" devoted to the study of nature, it 

 has always been my habit to embrace every opportunity 

 of increasing my knowledge and pleasures by actual ob- 

 servation, and I have found ample means of gratifying 

 this disposition, wherever my place has been allotted by 

 Providence. When an inhabitant of the country, it was 

 sufficient to go a few steps from the door to be in the 

 midst of numerous interesting objects ; when a resident 

 of the crowded city, a healthful walk of half an hour 

 placed me where my favourite enjoyment was offered in 

 abundance ; and now, when no longer able to seek in 

 fields and woods and running streams for that knowledge 

 which cannot readily be elsewhere obtained, the recollec- 

 tion of my former rambles is productive of a satisfaction, 

 which past pleasures but seldom bestow. Perhaps a 

 statement of the manner in which my studies were pur- 

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