P HE FACE. 



TN the course of many a ramble throughout New 

 Zealand, and especially in the neighbourhood 

 of this beautifully situated town which it has been 

 my lot to dtvell near for over thirty years, in my 

 daily walks through its finely wooded Town Belt 

 ami suburbs, and in my oivn garden, I have tried 

 to keep my eyes open to the beauties of Nature. 

 I hare recorded, too, the facts and incidents which 

 interested me, and eventually I put together the 

 notes ir Jiiclt 1 had made in a scries of articles 

 contributed to the columns of the " Otago Daily 

 Times.''' These articles did not profess to teach 

 anything new ; they rather sought to tell ivhat had 

 interested the writer, and ivhat he thought would 

 perhaps interest others. They met with more com- 

 mendation than it seemed to me that they deserved. 

 And it is in response to suggestions from various 

 quarters that they are noic issued in book form, 

 even though I am well aivare ^vith the pessimist 

 of old that "of making many books there is 

 no end." 



This little book will be justified if it leads 

 any to look on the common things of Nature wWi 

 renewed interest, and to find pleasure in forgotten 

 fields. 



I desire in a very special degree to thank 

 Mr J. Crosby Smith, F.L.S., of Inrercargill, and 

 my brother, MrJ. C. Thomson, for the photographs 

 used in the illustration of this little book. 



DUNEDIN, N.Z. 



207? 



