4 ELEMENTARY ZOOLOGY 



But no text-book of zoology can really give the student 

 the knowledge he seeks. He must find out most of it for 

 himself; a text-book, based on the experiences of others, 

 is chiefly valuable for telling him how to work most 

 effectively to get this knowledge for himself. And the 

 best students always find out things which are not in books. 

 Especially can the beginning student find out things not 

 known before, * ' new to science, "as we say, about the 

 behavior and habits of animals, and their relations to their 

 surroundings. The life-history of comparatively few kinds 

 of animals is exactly known; the instincts and habits of 

 comparatively few have been studied in any detail. The 

 kinds of food demanded, the feeding habits, nest-building, 

 care of the young, cunning concealment of nest and self, 

 time of egg-laying or of producing young, duration of the 

 immature stages and the habits and behavior of the young 

 animals a host, indeed, of observations on the actual life 

 of animals, remain to be made by the "field naturalist." 

 Any beginning student can be a "field naturalist" and 

 can find out new things about animals, that is, can add 

 to the science of zoology. 



