CHAP. IV. 
A CONVERSATIONAL CHAPTER, CONVEYING HINTS FOR A PLAN OF 
STUDYING, IN DETAIL, THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS OF 
ZOOLOGY, WITH EXAMPLES DRAWN FROM THAT OF ORNITHO- 
LOGY. 
(434.) Honusr scholar, as Izaak Walton says, I shall 
now throw aside the professor's gown, with which the 
critics have bedecked me, and appear in my every-day 
suit. Let us talk of science as of ordinary matters ; 
and, although I cannot conduct you by a short cut to 
what I have been some thirty years in learning, I may 
still make the way smoother and easier than if you were 
left to pore over strange phrases and unknown circles. 
Think yourself fortunate, by the way, in having a master 
of any sort. When I first began to collect shells and 
catch insects, the only guides we then had were “ Da 
Costa's Conchology,” and ‘ Yeates’s Entomology ;”’ 
neither of these worthies having any more idea about 
analogy and affinity than I had myself. Times, you 
see, are strangely changed. Now you may choose out 
of twenty systems ; and, if you believe a modern pro- 
fessor, may become a “‘ very good naturalist,” after 
taking “ two or three walks in the country.” This, to 
be sure, is a most royal, or rather a rail-road, way to 
knowledge ; but who will believe it is the right one? 
Not you, at least, if you think me worthy of being your 
master. Remember that knowledge implies study ; and 
that both are requisite to make a good pin, as well as 
a good naturalist. ‘ Alphabets” are very useful; but 
of what service are letters if they do not teach us words? 
and what are words without sentences? So with natural 
history. To get a few Latin names by heart is like 
learning a few letters ; any body can do this. Get some 
knowledge, therefore, of first principles ; and, after read- 
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