24 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



The modern man who nourishes a real love for undis- 

 torted nature — that is to say, who is a true " naturalist " 

 — has one or two resources even in these British Islands. 

 There are ways of access to Nature unadorned by man 

 which are open even to the town-dweller. The chief of 

 these is the seashore. Even from London, in the course 

 of a few hours, one may be transported to territory where 

 there are no traces of man's operations. The region of 

 rock and pool, sand-flat, and shell-bank, exposed by the 

 sea as it retreats, is a real " nature-reserve " — effectually 

 so is that deepest area only exposed at spring-tides. The 

 locality chosen by the naturalist must be at a distance 

 from any great harbour or estuary polluted by the cities 

 seated on its banks, and should also be out of the way 

 of the modern steam-driven fish trawlers, which have 

 caused havoc in some sweet bays of our southern coast 

 by pouring out tons of dead, unsaleable fish. The 

 rejected offal has become the gathering-ground of carniv- 

 orous marine creatures, and the balance of Nature has 

 been upset by the nourishment thus thoughtlessly thrown 

 by man into new relations. 



Some favoured spot on the south or west coast may 

 be known to our city-dwelling nature-lover, and thither 

 he will hasten to spend week-ends, and, when he can, 

 longer spells in the supreme delight of undisturbed com- 

 munion with the things of Nature, apart from human 

 "enterprise." In some cottage near the sea marsh, 

 where an unpolluted stream joins the salt water, he has 

 his accustomed lodging ; his host, a cheery long-shore 

 fisherman and handy boatman. Close by is the rising 

 headland and rocky cliff facing the sea. The shore is 

 strewn with rocks, and as the tide goes down long 

 " reefs " are exposed, clothed with brown and green sea- 

 weeds. Here no man has intruded ! When the water 



