Song Birds and Water Fowl 



I am quite sure that many people who, in a 

 general way, are sincerely interested in the 

 various attractive elements of Nature, are yet 

 disposed to feel that the amount of enthusiasm 

 evolved by naturalists in regard to their re- 

 spective specimens — and this particularly ap- 

 plies to flowers and birds — exceeds the bounds 

 of reason, and is a little unworthy of mature 

 and serious-minded individuals. In the super- 

 ficial view of the case, it must be confessed 

 that such an estimate of the value of these 

 sciences is not altogether erroneous. The fact 

 is, such people do not know — and often the 

 naturalist himself does not realize— precisely 

 what are the grounds of his enthusiasm. It is 

 forgotten that the admiration which one feels 

 for any work of Nature or of art springs much 

 more largely than is commonly supposed from 

 various accessories that play an unobtrusive but 

 essential part in every scene. Certainly no 

 bird student, however ardent his admiration 

 for his subject, will assert that his pleasure is 

 derived purely and simply from the bird itself. 

 Neither is the lively pleasure of the botanist 

 derived exclusively from flowers. Eliminate 

 every attendant enhancing circumstance, let 

 the flower or bird be seen in absolute isolation 

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