PREFACE 



D 



O not go through the world 

 blind to Nature's beauties 

 or deaf to her music. 



Every intelligent man 

 and woman should learn to 

 read something in the great 

 wonder book of Nature, 

 and thus add an incalcu- 

 lable pleasure to life. The world and 

 all that is in it belongs only to those 

 who enjoy it. One day I was walking 

 across an estate in my neighbourhood, 

 and was met by a stranger who asked : 

 " To whom does this place belong ? " 

 " To me," I replied. I suppose my sun- 

 bleached green tweed jacket and rough, 

 muddy boots filled him with worldly 

 incredulity, for he exclaimed : " In- 

 deed ! I thought it was owned by Sir 

 So-and-So." "Yes," I answered, "he 

 is the nominal owner, and takes the 

 rent and the trouble, but I get all the 



pleasure out of the place and count that 

 the real test of ownership." 



Even a little knowledge of birds, 

 beasts, insects, and flowers adds a great 

 and unfailing joy to life, for they are 

 constant friends, with an infinite variety 

 of appeal to all that is sanest, healthiest, 

 and best in human nature. Take our 

 feathered friends as an example ; they 

 charm us by their sweet songs, brilliant 

 colours, graceful movements, and inter- 

 esting habits, yet never seem to grow 

 stale or lose their sprightly youth. You 

 may have left your old home in Devon- 

 shire, Yorkshire, Scotland, Wales, Ire- 

 land, or anywhere else, to dwell in the 

 murk and gloom of some great city ; 

 and if you return again ten, twenty, or 

 thirty years afterwards, you will find 

 that, although the men and women you 

 left behind have changed and grown 

 old, the birds have not. They show no 



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