4 
A NATURALIST ON THE PROWL. 
Cherish the tender place in your nature which feels a pang 
when you pick up the little corpse, so happy two minutes 
ago. And when you have killed enough, stop. 
Beware also of the snare which lurks under the intoxi- 
cating pleasure of collecting, and set a watch upon yourself, 
lest you degenerate into a collector and cease to be a 
naturalist. As soon as you begin to feel that a rare bird 
or butterfly is not so much a bird or butterfly to you as 
a “ specimen ” you have caught the distemper and must 
take measures to check it. The best remedy I know is to 
set aside one day in the week for a sabbath of peace and 
good-will, on which the instruments of death must be laid 
aside and an amnesty proclaimed to all creation. Then you 
may move among living things with heart free from guile 
and mind undistracted by stratagems, and you will note 
many things in them which you never saw when you were 
scheming to compass their destruction. You will see how 
they make their living, what they do when they get up in 
the morning, and how they pass the day. And you will 
see deeper into the meaning of their forms and colours than 
some great men, and will not be afraid to throw away 
on your own responsibility many postulates and some 
axioms which are current in the world with the stamp of 
