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THE NATURALIST. 



larvae, or butterflies, or to observe the babits of some of Nature's many 

 interesting productions. Probably, also, we may be seeking for birds' nests 

 and eggs ; and here, undoubtedly, we shall find an ample opportunity for 

 the display of our patience, perseverance, and keen sight, for when the hedges 

 and river-banks are covered with leaves, a nest is by no means an easy thing 

 to discover ; and although we may, by accident or watchfulness, observe a 

 bird approach to its nest or retreat from it, yet even this will not be an 

 every-day occurrence. But any one of these occupations serves to give us 

 an interest that is never obtainable if we merely take a walk." ISTow, 

 speaking of a walk, I knov*^ of nothing under the sun that is probably more 

 ambiguous in meaning or more dull, dreary, and stupid in reality than that 

 ordinary mechanical operation — a walk, especially when the scene of the 

 performance is a road or street where the clouds of dust seem to be 

 actuated by Mephistophelian instinct, and are whirled along like some 

 veritable African simoom. Many people believe that when they have 

 taken a walk, a very important duty has been discharged, and a 

 most health-giving process gone through — that to take a walk every day, 

 of a certain measurable distance in a measurable portion of time, is 

 a certain antidote against illness. It may be granted that fresh air 

 and exercise are both essential to health, but something more is re- 

 quired. We require change of thought, of mind, and feeling just as much 

 as change of air ; and this we obtain when we adopt a thorough change of 

 occupation, such as results from a ramble in the country in search of some- 

 thing definite and interesting, in the way of J^atural History. When a 

 taste for J^ature is once engendered, and an interest taken in searching out 

 those occult mutations which occur amongst many of even the most infini- 

 tessimal creatures in creation, a walk in the country becomes an ever-varying 

 Kaleidoscope of amusement ; for then every pool of water, hedge, or bank 

 teems with well known marvels, and instead of our rushing on, unmindful of 

 all around us, or as ignorant of all we see as a monkey who glances at the 

 stars, we shall, undoubtedly, discover much more actually to amuse us than 

 will those who have made the vicinity of towns and high roads the ultima 

 Tliule of their peregrinations. 



There is always something interesting to be found on the banks of a 

 river ; for even in England we may, where rivers or even streams abound, 

 watch the crafty proceedings of some old water-vole, whose secure retreat is 

 entered from beneath the water-level ; or we may perceive that most cunning 

 of birds the moor-hen, which, when almost within reach, noiselessly glides 



