INTRODUCTION 



BY 

 ERNEST SETON-THOMPSON 



ON NATURE STUDY 



N CORRESPONDENCE and in the course of my lectures I have been asked 

 a great many times to name some reliable text-book that would serve 

 as a guide in the study of American Zoology, and hitherto, I have 

 been unable to do so. 



There are, indeed, one or two excellent popular works on Birds, 

 but nothing on Mammals, Reptiles, or Fishes. Our writers on these 

 subjects have unfortunately grouped themselves under two heads: 



1. THE CAREFUL SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE NEITHER THE WILL NOR THE WIT TO 



BE POPULAR. 



2. THE POPULAR WRITERS WHO WERE UTTERLY UNRELIABLE. 



There were of course many partial exceptions .to this, but, as a broad 

 fact, notwithstanding the public demand, there has not been until now a 

 reliable work of popular scope on American Zoology, since the days of 

 Audubon . 



It is therefore a great pleasure to introduce and commend to the public, 

 THE NEW NATURAL HISTORY, a work that presents, in a popular form, the 

 best results of recent zoological research. 



Natural History, as a school course, is a modern study. In the days of 

 our fathers it was not thought of at all, and it is yet very usual to have 

 parents ask of the teacher, "Why should my boy take up Natural History?" 

 "What is the use of Nature -study ?" and commonly, although he himself 

 is convinced of the desirability of such subjects, the teacher cannot frame 

 a satisfactory reply. 



There are several good answers to these questions. The first bears on 

 the value of such studies, as training. No one swings dumb-bells for the 

 sake of doing it, but because he can thereby develop muscles that will 

 serve him in his after-life. So Nature-study, viewed wholly as training, 

 must rank in the highest class. More than any other pursuit within the 



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