PREFACE 



THE object of the present manual is to attract the 

 young mind to the scientific study of Nature by the 

 presentation of facts in a literary or at least pic- 

 turesque manner, so that the pupil may of himself make 

 delighted progress as he reads and reflects : he should 

 feel himself in a world of wonder, with his curiosity 

 excited at every step. 



The scientific facts are, at first, of less importance 

 than the cultivation of that interest in the phenomena 

 of Nature which all boys and girls should (and most 

 do) feel, and the formation of a habit of intelligent 

 and accurate observation a habit which is, indeed, 

 less easy to acquire than is commonly supposed, but 

 which involves a discipline scarcely, if at all, inferior 

 to a properly conducted study of the classics. 



It is sometimes forgotten that around the study of 

 the aspects and laws of Nature there is a literature 

 which well deserves to be regarded as classical in the 

 best sense of the word. Descriptions of Nature by 

 writers like Shakespeare and Bacon, Wordsworth and 

 Thomson, Izaak Walton and Gilbert White, again and 

 again prove the fact ; and their various testimonies to 

 the abiding power in Nature to interest and elevate 

 the mind have, therefore, been drawn upon in the 

 preparation of the present work. 



The Editor's own part in furnishing a portion of the 

 text is mostly confined to the subject of some British 

 birds and plants that have specially interested him 

 and his classes ; and if he has made the study of 



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