6 INTRODUCTION 



about classification. Nearly every country child is a naturalist in 

 this sense, not to mention many older persons, though for some 

 decades there has been an unfortunate tendency to ignore habit 

 and pay overmuch attention to what we may call laboratory 

 zoology. The most admirable type of English naturalist is 

 undoubtedly Gilbert White, author of the well-known book, 

 The Natural History of Selborne, in which he records ob- 

 servations made by him during his residence there. Selborne 

 was his native place. Born in 1720, he later on filled a curacy 

 in the neighbouring parish of Faringdon (1755-84), ending his 

 life as curate of Selborne {1784-93). The late Richard Jefferies, 

 himself an ardent naturalist, speaks of White in a preface written 

 to the Camelot edition of the Natural History. After quoting 

 an observation as to the way the garden warbler sips honey from 

 the Crown Imperial, Jefferies remarks: — "Here we . . . see 

 how different minds may trace out the bearing of the same fact. 

 The old naturalist at Selborne simply records it in language which 

 could not be better chosen, highly delighted evidently, and taking 

 a deep interest in it for its own sake. In the same manner, anyone 

 who has a taste for out-of-door observations may study natural 

 history without any previous scientific learning. . . . Part of his 

 (White's) success was owing to his coming to the field with a mind 

 unoccupied. He was not full of evolution when he walked out, or 

 devolution, or degeneration. He did not look for microbes every- 

 where. His mind was free and his eye open. To many it would 

 do much good to read this work, if only with the object of getting 

 rid of some of the spiders' webs that have been so industriously 

 spun over the eyesight ,of those who would like to think for them- 

 selves." Fortunately a reaction has been setting in of late in 

 favour of natural history, and we are beginning to realize that far 

 less is known about the habits than about the structure of animals. 

 Among charming books of the kind the following may well be 

 mentioned : — 



Bates — Naturalist on the Amazons. 



Belt — Naturalist in Nicaragua. 



Brehm — From North Pole to Equator. 



Buckland — Logbook of a Fisherman and Naturalist, and Curiosities of 



Natural History. 

 Darwin — A Naturalist's Voyage. 



Forbes — A Naturalisfs Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago. 

 Fowler — Tales of the Birds, and A Year with the Birds. 



