2 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



chiefly a source of recreation, that it would be a 

 great mistake either to hold their work cheap or 

 to make their way needlessly difficult. When, 

 therefore, the word " amateur " occurs in the 

 succeeding pages, it is merely employed to dis 

 tinguish naturalists of this order from those who 

 have adopted the study of natural science as a 

 profession. 



To a certain extent the untoward effect of the 

 new doctrine on many of the older order of 

 naturalists was inevitable. Our ideas concerning 

 nature have been so revolutionised during the 

 last generation, that one can hardly expect mature 

 students to find themselves at home in their novel 

 environment ; while any attempts to patch the 

 new doctrine on to the damaged remnants of the 

 old, was like putting new cloth in an old garment. 

 Although, as I shall point out later, the amateurs 

 have themselves to blame to a certain extent, 

 their hindrances have come largely from outside. 



In some directions the same fate seems to have 

 overtaken the pursuits of the naturalist which in 

 these strenuous days has overtaken various pop- 

 ular sports. Professionalism has seized them for 

 its own, and has established methods and stand- 

 ards which are beyond the reach of any but the 



