8 The Life and Writings of 



self to the study of plants, but also gave much attention 

 to other branches of natural history. He says: 



&quot; I had made to myself a small garden in a wild and remote 

 place. I began the study of Fishes and Birds, I drew them and 

 collected Shells and Crabs. Daudin, of Paris, who published then 

 a natural history of Birds, was my first correspondent among the 

 learned, and I communicated to him some observations on Birds. 

 I drew maps, copied those of rare works, and took topographical 

 surveys; these were my first essays in geography.&quot; 



In reading Rafinesque s account of a hunting episode 

 which took place near Leghorn in 1802, one will be 

 struck with the similarity of his experiences and those 

 recorded by Charles Darwin, England s great naturalist.* 

 Rafinesque says: &quot;I began to hunt, but the first bird 

 I shot was a poor Parus, whose death appeared a cruelty 

 to me, and I have never been able to become an unfeel 

 ing hunter.&quot; Darwin had the same feeling for animals, 

 even the very lowest, and never allowed himself to harm 

 them wilfully or knowingly. 



The year 1802 marked, in the spring, the end of 

 the youthful home life of Rafinesque. There appears 

 in the record no evidences of interest in matters which 

 should prove attractive to a boy of his years. Whether 

 he ever had any fondness for boyish sports and games, 



Vide Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. I, p. 28, 1887. D. Apple- 

 ton & Co., New York. 



