353 



CHAP. IV. 



A CONVERSATIONAL CHAPTER, CONVEYING HINTS FOR A FLAN OF 

 STUDYING, IN DETAIL, THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS OF 

 ZOOLOGY, WITH EXAMPLES DRAWN FROM THAT OF ORNITHO- 

 LOGY. 



(434.) HONEST scholar, as Izaak Walton says, I shall 

 now throw aside the professor's gown, with which the 

 critics have bedecked me, and appear in my every-day 

 suit. Let us talk of science as of ordinary matters ; 

 and, although I cannot conduct you by a short cut to 

 what I have been some thirty years in learning, I may 

 still make the way smoother and easier than if you were 

 left to pore over strange phrases and unknown circles. 

 Think yourself fortunate, by the way, in having a master 

 of any sort. When I first began to collect shells and 

 catch insects, the only guides we then had were te Da, 

 Costa's Conchology," and " Yeates's Entomology;" 

 neither of these worthies having any more idea about 

 analogy and affinity than I had myself. Times, you 

 see, are strangely changed. Now you may choose out 

 of twenty systems ; and, if you believe a modern pro- 

 fessor, may become a (C very good naturalist," after 

 taking " two or three walks in the country." This, to 

 be sure, is a most royal, or rather a rail-road, way to 

 knowledge ; but who will believe it is the right one ? 

 Not you, at least, if you think me worthy of being your 

 master. Remember that knowledge implies study ; and 

 that both are requisite to make a good pin, as well as 

 a good naturalist. "Alphabets" are very useful; but 

 of what service are letters if they do not teach us words? 

 and what are words without sentences ? So with natural 

 history. To get a few Latin names by heart is like 

 learning a few letters ; any body can do this. Get some 

 knowledge, therefore, of first principles ; and, after read- 



