NATURAL HISTORY CLUBS 81 



bringing forth several litters in the year. The young are 

 blind and hairless, and are reared in concealed nests, lined 

 by shreds of any soft material which the mother is able 

 to procure. 



Can any one tell us what is the special use of the long 

 scaly tail of the true rats and mice ? Several explanations 

 have been offered, but we want some kind of proof that 

 they are founded on fact. 



The long-tailed field-mouse and the harvest-mouse are 

 both real mice, and quite different from either voles or 

 shrews. They never enter houses, though the long-tailed 

 field-mouse is common in barns during the winter. 



XVI. NATURAL HISTORY CLUBS. 



I have belonged to many natural history clubs, but 

 have found hardly any of them profitable. This must 

 be my excuse for proposing changes which I know before- 

 hand will be unwelcome to many brother naturalists. 



My first piece of advice to anybody who was thinking 

 of founding a new club would be : Let no papers be read 

 to the club. The zealous young naturalist's first notion 

 is to turn over textbooks and encyclopaedias until he has 

 compiled what will take an hour to read. There may be 

 profit in this to the reader, not very much, I fear, but 

 upon the listeners the effect is melancholy beyond the 

 power of words to describe. No assembly of free agents 

 can be kept together on such terms. I will go a step 

 further, and add : Let there be no lectures, as a rule. 

 Now and then, I admit, it may be stimulating to hear 

 some naturalist of experience discourse, but even he is 

 generally tedious. A third prohibition, if I can be listened 

 to after what I have already made bold to say, would 

 be : Let no local lists be prepared, read, or printed. They 

 are hardly ever worth the paper they are printed on. 



We have maintained a useful and agreeable college 



F 



