Pleasures of Ornithology. 261 



exactly as in botany, more real and lasting enjoyment 

 than acquaintance, however sounding, with a score of 

 mere shapes and measurements, and resting therein. 



The parts most abounding in birds are naturally those 

 which supply food in the greatest abundance. The peat- 

 mosses, the cold and treeless hills have their inhabitants. 

 Still, it is where fruit abounds, and where the insects 

 depending on vegetation are most numerous, that birds 

 must always be expected to gather in largest numbers. 

 Trees and substantial hedgerows are also inviting, so 

 that, all things considered, the southern and south- 

 western parts of the neighbourhood are probably the 

 richest both in number of species and of individuals. 



The simple fact of so many as ninety of the prettiest 

 and most interesting of the birds accounted British being 

 denizens of our own district should operate as a strong 

 inducement, especially with young people, to commence 

 earnest study of ornithology. If the gathering and 

 examination of ferns and wild-flowers be a perennial 

 pastime, quite as hearty is the enjoyment that comes 

 of observing the forms of birds, always so elegant, the 

 diversities of their vestures, their odd and entertaining 

 manners and customs, their ingenuity, characters, and 

 tempers, their almost human instincts, and their incessant 

 prefiguration of human character. This last is, in truth, 

 not simply one of the most curious and amusing parts of 

 ornithology, but literally the inexhaustible part. The 

 best and most precious lessons in natural history, what- 

 ever may be the department, are those which enable us 



