Tour in Wales. 



jects naturally of interest exceedingly dry. While 

 the lectures of this instructor were of no especial 

 advantage, they were the means of his meeting Mr. 

 Macgillivray, the curator of the local museum, who 

 in after years wrote a work on Scottish birds, and 

 was an enthusiastic naturalist. 



During the long-vacation period Darwin threw 

 aside his books, and with some congenial friend 

 took long walks over the country, enriching his 

 mind by personal contact with nature, thus building 

 up the taste for investigation which formed so promi- 

 nent a feature in his after-life. These walks were 

 something more than would be attempted by the 

 average American school-boy. He thought nothing 

 of covering thirty miles in a day ; and, during the 

 summer of 1826, with two friends, with knapsack on 

 back, he travelled over a large part of Wales, later 

 going over the ground again with his sister, that she 

 might be a participant in his enjoyment. 



After the summer trips the autumn was gener- 

 ally passed at Mr. Owen's, at Woodhouse, or at 

 his uncle Josiah Wedgwood's, at Maer, where he 

 found opportunity to indulge in shooting, which 

 was as much a passion with him as collecting 

 minerals or insects. Days were spent on the heath 

 and among the Scotch firs, following the game- 

 keeper after black game, and no young American 

 trout fisherman kept a closer record than did our 

 sportsman naturalist. Every bird shot during the 

 season was carefully noted, — a fact which shows the 

 method, thoroughness, and detail that marked every 

 subject in which he was interested. His care to 



