Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-07-25
METHODS OF NATURE STUDY
Half Of the Books on This sub;s,,
Work Of Outdoor Naturalist

1t is refreshing to note that nature.
study is becoming more and more
common feature OF school and collags
work. and also that the methods used
are somewhat different from those in
vogue some years ago. Time was when
the study of birds meant shooting
them, or collecting their eggs and nests
and when the ardent student of Quad.
rupeds, insects. reptiles, or any other
living thing, felt it necessary to prov
his love for his subject by knocking II
in the head. and to measure his kuowl.
edge by the size of his collection
Thanks to the camera and common
sense, things are different now. The
naturalist has learned that he can 6uJ
out more about birds and animals by
making friends with them when alive
than by dissecting them dead.
At least half of the popular books on
nature-study which have appeared in the
last few years have evidently been the
work of the out-of-door naturalist
The lover of nature takes his camera
his opera glass. his text book and his
note book, and HES him to the woods or
fields, where he quietly sits down on
the ground or props himself against
tree, and keeps very still. 1t is not his
purpose to interrupt, but to watch, the
housekeeping Of his friends in fur or
feathers He knows that the report of
a gun or the smell of blood will effectu
ally put stop to the kind of studying
he desires to do. 1t is not practicable
to kill person and make friends with
him at one and the same time. and the
rule holds Just as good If the person is
q squirrel or a robin.
The nature-lover. therefore, sits for
hours in his chosen place. tramps for
miles over wood-paths or through un-
of bringing home a well-filled bag Of
game, but in order to store his head
with interesting information. He
wants to find out. perhaps, what the
habits Of a certain bird are. and how
its song at certain seasons of the year
differs from the mere twitter heard at
other seasons: what it lives on, aud
how far north it ranges. Can he dis
cover all these things by lying in wait
for the bird and shooting it, or taking
it home to live the rest of it's short life
in a cage Nothing of the kind: this is
a case in which he, not the bird must
pay for his knowledge. So, like an
honest man, he pays, and in return
learns more not only about that bird
but about various other creatures met
in his travels, than the mere sportsman
would know if he hunted hundred
years.
Old woodmen. it is true, often know
great deal of the habits of wild
things, not only from the hunters but
the naturalist's point of view; but il is
well known that they seldom hunt for
mere sport. and never kill more than
they need for actual consumption or for
sale. One does not find an Adirondack
guide running amuck in the woods
blazing away at everything he sees
Powder and shot are too precious for
one thing. Consequently the people
in fur and feathers. not desired by
him for food or other purposes, soon
learn to know him. and he understands
them. Sometimes he is not much of
sportsman in the ordinary sense Of the
term. And the men who attend to the
preserving of game and the care of for
ests know quite as much of woodcraft
as they who live by shooting the wild
creatures