Preface. 



There are more ways than one of studying 

 natural history. There is Dr. Dryasdust's way; 

 which consists of mere accuracy of definition and 

 differentiation; statistics as harsh and dry as 

 the skins and bones in the museum where it is 

 studied. There is the field-observer's way; the 

 careful and conscientious accumulation and record 

 of facts bearing on the life-history of the creatures; 

 statistics as fresh and bright as the forest or 

 meadow where they are gathered in the dewy 

 morning. And there is the poet's way ; who 

 looks at nature through a glass peculiarly his 

 own ; the aesthetic aspect, which deals, not with 

 statistics, but with the emotions of the human 

 mind,— surprise, wonder, terror, revulsion, admira- 

 tion, love, desire, and so forth,— which are made 

 energetic by the contemplation of the creatures 

 around him. 



In my many years' wanderings through the 

 wide field of natural history, I have always felt 

 towards it something of a poet's heart, though 

 destitute of a poet's genius. As Wordsworth so 

 beautifully says,— 



" To me the meanest flower that blows can give 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 



Now, this book is an attempt to present natural 

 history in its aesthetic fashion. Not that I have 

 presumed constantly to indicate — like the stage- 

 directions in a play, or the "hear, hear!" in a 

 speech — the actual emotion to be elicited; this 

 would have been obtrusive and impertinent; but 

 i have sought to paint a series of pictures, the 

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