viii Preface 



woodcock haunt the wood as well. The study of all this 

 wealth of life is no idle or frivolous byepath, it is the 

 essence of Nature Study, the study of all the complex 

 web of relationships in which all living things and lifeless 

 forces are bound together. Here, these explorations are 

 left for teacher and pupil to pursue as opportunity of 

 time and circumstance may allow. 



The study from manifold points of view of this inter- 

 connection of woodland life may assist us in the attempt 

 to unravel the complexities of social life in human 

 society. Perhaps the poet was hardly thinking of evolu- 

 tionary ethics when he wrote 



One impulse from a vernal wood 

 May teach you more of man, 

 Of moral evil and of good, 

 Than all the sages can. 



None the less, these simple lessons on trees may be 

 used as a thread on which to string still greater thoughts 

 all round the circling year, whilst great new ideas are 

 transforming our minds as silently as the seasons trans- 

 form the woodland. 



HUGH RICHARDSON. 



12, ST MARY'S, YORK. 

 May, 1912. 



