162 



THE YOUNG 



NATUEALIST. 



during life, visit them in their own 

 homes, and note their various attitudes 

 and peculiarities. A bird placed in an 

 attitude that does not belong to it 

 seems ugly, however nicely it is stuffed 

 in other respects, for you must know 

 that each kind has postures and man- 

 ners of its own, the Woodpecker creeps 

 up the bark of trees, the Wren carries 

 its tail erect, the Titmice creep and turn 

 in all manner of ways round the 

 branches of trees, and so on, every bird 

 has some peculiarity of its own, and 

 great attention should be paid to these 

 in the living birds ; let nature herself 

 be your instructor, and if you follow her 

 you will not go far astray. One little 

 bit of advice we would give to the 

 beginner, don't be disheartened by re- 

 peated failures, and don't be in too 

 great a hurry ; however long a bird 

 takes to do, be determined to do it 

 well, and don't rest contented if any- 

 body else can do them better than you. 

 A great many birds are spoiled by being 

 slovenly done, they are no attraction to 

 those who have seen better, and if they 

 come to be sold at any time the prices 

 they fetch are but very trifling. In 

 these hard times working men would 

 have found it to their advantage if they 

 had known how to do something 

 beside their own regular work, or if 

 they had had some kind of stock which 

 they had accumulated in their leisure 

 time, and which they could now have 

 fallen back upon for funds to procure 

 the necessaries of life. Look at 

 Thomas Edwards, the'Scotch naturalist, 

 whose life we would recommend every- 



body to read, how often he had to fall 

 back on his stuffed birds and sell them 

 in order to pay his way ; he said that 

 they were his bank where he deposited 

 the labour of his leisure hours. He 

 had a large family, and an insufficient 

 income, yet he must have been a happy 

 man, still there were times in his life, 

 as there is in the life of everyone, 

 where by misfortune and trouble he 

 was cast down and sad, even at one 

 time he had gone to the water's edge 

 for the purpose of committing suicide, 

 but the spirit of a true naturalist was 

 yet alive, he saw a strange bird, one 

 that he did not know, and although 

 now face to face with death, still he 

 must know what it was, he followed the 

 bird, and it received so much of his 

 attention that, after a long chase, and 

 he had succeeded in getting it he forgot 

 all about his troubles, and happily did 

 not carry out the resolution he had 

 come to before he saw it. Let our 

 readers do as he did, store up in one 

 way or another for a rainy day, and we 

 will give a few chapters on bird stuffing 

 for those who wish to do as he did. 

 To be continued. 



NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Beginning Work. — Insects seem now to 

 be fairly out. On the 5th of March I went ottt 

 with a young friend, a beginner, for the first 

 time this season. We took Hybernia progem- 

 maria, and Phigalia pilosaria. Of the former 

 we took several of a very darkunicoloros form, 

 which I have taken here for several seasons. 

 In this variety all the usual markings and mar- 

 ginal dots are wanting, and the wings are uni- 

 form umber brown, the front of the thorax and 

 shoulders are yellowish, and the body gene- 



