INTRODUCTION. 23 



which the study of natural history gives to the 

 fact that, when we are engaged in such pursuits, 

 we are obeying an inherent impulse derived from 

 our innumerable hunting ancestors, it follows 

 that the more closely such primitive instincts are 

 obeyed the more enjoyment will the naturalist be 

 likely to get from his pursuits. If, in addition 

 to merely collecting specimens and classifying 

 them, we are able like our skin-clad forefathers 

 to 7'cgard each item as part of an argument or a 

 narrative, we shall reawaken more fully the keen 

 delight in outdoor pursuits which was the daily 

 portion of the savage. 



Now this is exactly what Darwinism has 

 enabled us to do. Even if we are among those 

 who go no further than did most of the older 

 naturalists, and content ourselves with merely 

 observing and recording, our pursuits gain in- 

 finitely in zest. For the most trivial scrap of 

 knowledge, which at one time would only have 

 been one more item added to the chaotic dust- 

 heap of useless lore, may now turn out to be 

 a diamond beyond price. Many times of late 

 years has some small and apparently valueless 

 discovery enabled the man of science to establish 

 some widely reaching law. No single character 



