HOW TO BEGIN NATURE-STUDY 9 
my front-door this morning the first thing that caught 
my eye was a spider, which had ‘set its wonderful 
net among the foliage of a hanging plant, and was 
patiently waiting at the end of its signal line, just 
as quiet as quiet could be. I watched it for a long 
time, and although it had set its net so cunningly 
and waited so patiently, it had not secured a break- 
fast long after my dinner was eaten and digested. 
It had toiled for many hours and caught nothing. 
It looked quite lifeless in its waiting-place, but when 
I caught a fly and threw it on to its web, it was on 
the spot in an instant. The fly I put into its 
clutches, however, was not to the spider’s taste, and 
it rejected it in a most disdainful fashion. Suppose, 
then, that you, too, observe a spider, let it be the 
starting-point” of your: Nature-study. Ask your 
friends about’/spiders ; read books that tell about 
spiders ; find! out how!many kinds of spiders are 
known in your country, and where to look for the 
various species. If you have no books that help 
you, go to a public library, and ask the librarian 
for his aid. Perhaps you have a public museum 
near to you ; if so, that is the very place you must 
hie to ; the curator of a museum is always glad to 
help young students, and you may be sure he will 
welcome your inquiries and be of great assistance. 
Of this I am certain : if you are in real earnest you 
will get the knowledge you require “‘ by hook or by 
crook,’ as the saying goes. 
You will not have advanced very far in your study 
of spiders before you find them fascinatingly interest- 
ing. What you read about them will inspire you to 
go out and search for other specimens, and the facts 
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