ON HABITS OF OBSERVING. 9 



(7.) Each of the above habits of life has its pecu- 

 liar advantages ; but the out-of-door naturalist, with 

 whom alone we have to do in these pages, has this in 

 his favour, that he is never at a loss for the means 

 and opportunities of carrying on his favourite pur- 

 suit. He is, as it were, independent of circum- 

 stances ; and he can scarcely be so situated as to be 

 altogether shut out from observing nature, and add- 

 ing to the store of facts which it is his amusement 

 to collect and note down. All places offer some- 

 thing worthy of his attention, though certain spots 

 may be more favourable in this respect than others. 

 And here we shall make a remark which may be of 

 service to young naturalists, viz. that they should 

 avail themselves of the particular situation in which 

 they may happen to be placed, for studying what- 

 ever that situation offers. We mean, that they 

 should be guided by it in their choice of the parti- 

 cular department of Natural History to which they 

 intend mainly to confine their researches. They 

 should take what comes to hand, and bestow their 

 chief time on what falls directly under their eye. 

 They will often thus have it in their power to supply 

 facts for the more scientific naturalist, which others, 

 differently circumstanced, have no means of ascer- 

 taining. For almost every locality has its pecu- 

 liarities; and we should endeavour rather to turn 

 these to account, than to be on the constant search 

 for what our neighbourhood is not calculated to 

 afford. We like the remark made by White in one 

 of his letters to Pennant, that if he had been by the 

 sea-side he would have turned his attention to 



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