PREFATORY NOTE 



One of the great obstacles to a popular study of Natural History 

 in a comparatively new country is the absence of books specially 

 devoted to the forms of life one encounters. The naturalist in 

 the older countries of Europe and in the United States, whether 

 interested in birds, reptiles, fishes, shells or insects, has ready at 

 hand popular works, beautifully illustrated, describing all the 

 forms he is likely to collect. From these he readily attains the 

 satisfaction of identifying his specimen, and then learns some- 

 thing of their habits and structure, and thereby becomes stimu- 

 lated to further endeavour. In newer countries such knowledge, 

 even if available, is in such a form as to be of assistance only to 

 the speciahst, not to the ordinary observer with but a general 

 interest in the forms of life around him. 



The reason for this is not far to seek. In the newer country 

 nature students are few, pioneering work has to be done by them 

 in the technical description of the many new forms encountered, 

 or the trained investigator is obliged by force of circumstances 

 or from a sense of duty to devote his abilities to the many pressing 

 questions of practical and economic importance. The more 

 human, cultural side of natural history comes with the maturity 

 of a country, and flourishes only where some of its followers reach 

 the stage of leisured reading. 



The difference is strongly enforced when one endeavours to 

 introduce the study of nature into schools. In the older countries 

 a crowd of writers have adapted the facts of nature to the in- 

 teUigence of the young and provided the teacher with material 

 arranged in suitable form. A school literature of natural 

 history becomes available. In the newer countries the teacher 

 is at once faced with the difficulty of an absence of facts, and 

 unless capable of supplying this from his own training and 

 experience, can make no progress. Before much ad\-ance can 

 be made the student of Nature must have contributed his share. 



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