310 PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ZOOLOGY. 



although they may have no idea of studying natural his- 

 tory as a science. In like manner we may bring to light 

 innumerable interesting traits^ regarding some of the 

 most familiarly known animals, which are not to be 

 found recorded by any writer. In proof of this, let 

 any experienced observer read the best accounts we have 

 of some of the commonest animals, and then ask him- 

 self if he could not add much more from his own ob- 

 servation ? What do we know, for instance, of the 

 different modes by which the various species of the 

 British warblers capture their insect prey ? or what 

 is the vegetable food they are respectively fond of? 

 We should recommend every lover of nature, or of a 

 country life, to possess White's " Natural History of 

 Selborne" (a book which we were the first to bring 

 under the notice of the present generation), and he wiU 

 there find incitements held out to a constant watchful- 

 ness of the animals living in his own neighbourhood ; 

 he will see what interest may be given to his walks, and 

 he will learn with astonishment that some of the most 

 important truths of ornithological science are mainly 

 supported by the simple, and apparently trivial facts 

 detailed in this interesting book. The " Journal of a 

 Naturalist," more recently published, is by no means 

 inferior; and both are fit companions to the charming 

 volume of Izaak Walton. 



(376.) A fixed plan, or a concentration of study, is 

 greatly to be recommended. When first a person is 

 seized with a passion for natural history, he begins 

 collecting every thing ; plants, mosses, insects, shells, 

 fossils, pebbles — nothing comes amiss — all are hoarded, 

 and equally prized. By degrees, however, if he has 

 good sense, he begins to find he cannot go on in this way. 

 He wants more room, and he requires more boxes or 

 cabinets than the house can hold. If his new pursuit 

 is intended merely as an amusement to fiU up small 

 intervals of leisure, or to give some interest to a country 

 life, he may possibly resolve to circumscribe his collec- 

 tions, and content himself with possessing the natural 



