is no occupation for the mind, and condemned to 

 drudge at that in which they can see no usefulness 

 and find no pleasure, is not only probable, but demon- 

 strated in the cases of those who have been spared 

 this weariness of the spirit, and also saved from 

 those errors into which the unoccupied minds of the 

 young are so prone to fall. To save from those 

 errors, and at the same time to keep the natural 

 desire alive and on the alert, there is no subject 

 better fitted than natural history ; and if this little 

 book shall be an assistant, however humble, in the 

 accomplishment of this, the fondest wish of its 

 Author will be gratified. 



