The out-door world, or, Young collector's handbook

Front matter

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Preface

‘Boys WILL BE Boys!’ How often has this expression been used in extenuation of their mischievous propensities! Boys are naturally active, and if they have not the inclination or the opportunity to expend their store of mental and physical energy in some interesting and profitable employment, we shall be sure to find them busily occupied in working out some little scheme by which they hope to derive satisfaction at the expense of their playmates, their neighbours, or some dumb animal. You may almost as well talk to an oak log as tell a boy that he should abstain from such practical jokes as those which give him pleasure at the cost of his victimised schoolmates, that it is wrong to annoy his neighbour by damaging his property, or that it is cruel to tie a bundle of ignited crackers to the tail of a cat. If a boy is to relinquish such occupations, we must direct his energies into another channel by giving him a taste for something better. Teach him to play a game -of cricket, or to swim ; let him have a camera, and show him how to take a photograph ; give him a sketch-book, and cultivate a taste for the reproduction of the beautiful in nature and art; or make him a present of a book of scientific recreations. Among such works probably none will be found so fascinating to a boy as those which treat of natural history. Let him once acquire a taste for collecting, preserving, and studying natural history objects, and he has a hobby that will keep him out of mischief, give him healthy employment for mind and body, and occupation for all seasons of the year, both at home and in the field.

vi PREFACE

It is with a desire to cultivate such a taste, and to assist our boys (and our girls too for that matter) in the varied employments which constitute the ‘labour of love’ of the true naturalist that these pages are written. I was once a boy myself, and well do I remember the many difficulties and disappointments I experienced while endeavouring to make a useful collection of natural objects— difficulties and disappointments which might have been to a great extent obviated by the perusal of a popular yet scientific guide to the various departments of natural history.

in presenting the following pages to my readers, I do not hope, nor shall I attempt, to convert them into full-blown naturalists. Many years of the most careful observation, combined with much patient work on the part of the student, would be necessary to produce such a result. My only aim is to induce my readers to make a start, and to give them such a general outline of natural history as may form a safe foundation for the future study of any branch of the science that they may desire to follow.

The scope of this volume is large compared with its size. It includes a brief survey of the animal kingdom, with numerous hints on the collection, preservation, and classification of specimens. Many objects which are not generally studied by young collectors are here considered as worthy of a drawer in the young naturalist’s cabinet. Thus the reader is made acquainted with the fact that the seaside is not merely a collecting ground for shells and weeds, but that almost every — overturned stone between the tide-marks reveals a host of living beings which, although less conspicuous, will repay the time spent in their study. The vegetable kingdom is dealt with in a similar manner. Then follows a short chapter on the collection and arrangement of minerals and fossils.

{tis hoped that the detailed descriptions given for the construction of the necessary apparatus and the methods of using it, and the abundance of illustrations, will render this work a thoroughly practical guide to the young collector.

Contents

PAttis | ANIMAL LIFE

CHAP. PAGH I. PONDS AND STREAMS . : .: : : : i II. INSECTS AND INSECT HUNTING . , ; ne x TT SOL III. THE SEA-SHORE : : ; , : oe LG Iv. SNAILS AND SLUGS : ; é ; F . 220 Vv. SPIDERS, CENTIPEDES, AND MILLEPEDES ; seen VI. REPTILES AND REPTILE HUNTING : ‘ P55 VII. BRITISH BIRDS : ; 4 : A . 249 VIII. BRITISH MAMMALS : k : : Sn Voss

PART: LI.