124, THE EEV. J. G. WOOD. 



law," and without some system of arrangement even 

 the distinctively "field" naturalist would often find 

 himself at fault. But he did from his very heart 

 despise, detest, and abhor the men who pretend to be 

 naturalists and yet have no love at all for Nature, 

 whose only desire upon seeing an animal is the desire 

 to kill it, and who are never thoroughly happy un- 

 less they have a scalpel in their hands, and a half- 

 dissected " subject " before them. 



'He was a compiler himself, no doubt ; the accu- 

 sation has sometimes been brought against him, and 

 the accusation is undoubtedly true. But he was also 

 an original and painstaking observer, and never lost an 

 opportunity of watching an animal for himself, and of 

 recording its ways and doings from personal observa- 

 tion in preference to trusting to the report of another. 

 Such opportunities for observation as he could obtain, 

 he used to the best advantage. He never, so far as I am 

 aware, "read up" a subject simply and solely for the 

 purpose of writing an article upon it; he loved and 

 showed that he loved natural history for its own 

 sake ; and he would take any trouble in order to clear 

 up a vexed question purely for his own satisfaction, 

 without a thought of its possible usefulness from 

 a pecuniary point of view. And a very considerable 

 proportion of his writings is based entirely upon per- 

 sonal observation. 



But what man could possibly do the work which 

 he did without being a compiler? What man, however 

 laborious and painstaking in the field, however diligent 



