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take the lead again ; and let this Society do its utmost to persuade 
men to deal more leniently with rare migraiits, and to take more 
care ot those interesting birds which still make a home among them, 
to a few of Avhich I have shortly alluded. And let us prove 
tliat, to lovers of Nature at least, the convei'se of the old pi’overb is 
true; viz., “ that a bird in the hand is not worth two in the bush.” 
I do not say this simply as a closet Naturalist, for I have been 
brought nj) almost with a gun in my hand ; but there is a time 
to shoot, and there is a time not to shoot. Though I have 
dwelt principally on birds, I would not confine my remarks to 
them, but include all other branches of Natural History. Look 
tor instance at the gmnd Swallow-tailed Butterfly. Its little 
Avorld is getting terribly small in our county. Let those be 
persuaded, who still have the privilege of possessing it on their 
lands, to do all they can to preserve it, and stop that tra»le in 
chrysalises. 
So also with the I'lora. Cannot the voice of public oj)inion be 
brought to bear upon those who thoughtlessly purchase roots of 
herns and blowers, to adorn for a few short hours their rooms and 
balconies, at the expense of woods and hedgerows. The tmde is so 
great, that round many of our largo towns. Flowers and Ferns are 
nearly extinct. That great body of excursionists who have to bear 
the blame of every evil, from cutting names on a tree to chipping 
a tombstone, are greatly responsible in this matter. It is not 
enough to pick a flower or a frond, but the root must be taken 
home as a memorial of the trip. "Would not the country, without 
its herns and Flowers, be deprived of half its charms '? I remember 
an old story, dear to me in my youth, called “Ej'es and No Eyes.” 
bhould not such societies as ours try to remove the possibility of 
“no eyes” existing any longer? I say, encourage every boy and 
every girl to take up some branch of science as a hobb}'. Only let 
the hobby be of a useful and elevating character, and it will always 
prove a blessing and a constant joy. Take Natural History alone, 
and what a field is opened ! And, as the different branches of it, or 
any one of them, are mastered or better understood, the mind is 
exalted by the study of the works of God to see in the various laws 
