or less with improper feeding and want of adequate exercise and fresh air; and these disorders can be overcome by patience and trouble. But I never yet met anyone who had devoted special attention to the investigation of the diseases which affect our smaller wild animals.
The topic seems to suggest fresh fields for skilled research. This is only one, however, of the many bypaths to be followed by the votaries of science. Very few of us have adequate opportunities of conducting such serious experiments as those just suggested; but we can all of us find an unlimited source of amusement in studying the natural traits of wild animals. There may not be much of importance to discover in the habits of the hare. Yet I question whether anyone could devote a few weeks to patient observation of a single species of quadruped without obtaining a corresponding amount of pleasure. Men often neglect to study the habits of the birds or beasts which live around them, simply because, they say, 'they are so common.' Almost every bird or beast is common somewhere; but its abundance or scarcity is of minor importance to the true naturalist. What he aims at is to catch the spirit of the woods, to watch silently every movement of the woodpecker that is boring in the old timber, to catch the sibilant cry
