48 NATURE-STUDY 



ures will generally not flee then, but will go on feeding 

 or with their other occupations. But sound and sudden 

 motions startle them. If you do not frighten the animal 

 away at once on your approach, it may remain for some time 

 while you are making your observations on it. You may 

 even approach quite near if you do it quietly and slowly. 

 Some of the most interesting and valuable observations are 

 made in this incidental and accidental way. 



It is sometimes a good plan, with the older pupils, to 

 assign to the whole class or to individuals certain animals 

 or plants for continued obsen^ation, and to require memo- 

 randa to be made of these obsen^ations. In this way the 

 pupils may get some of that love for, and knowledge of, out- 

 door things that the naturalist possesses. 



Field Lessons 



The naturalist goes into the fields and woods, by the lakes 

 and brooks, and observes and studies sympathetically the 

 birds, the mammals, the flowers, or the rocks of the earth. 

 It is a real pleasure for him to be out among these in- 

 teresting things. He sees nature under the most natural 

 conditions. He sees the natural setting of things, how they 

 are adapted to the conditions under which they live, and 

 how animals and plants affect each other or live together. 

 He has a broader view of nature, a truer view than he who 

 studies these things indoors, under the artiiicial conditions 

 of the laboratory or the school-room. This is true nature- 

 study. The indoor study of things that naturally belong 

 outdoors, among other outdoor things, can never show their 

 true aspect. Moulded heaps of sand are a pitiable apology 

 for real hills and mountains, "the glory of our 'earth and 



