NATURE STUDY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SID,—As an old naturalist who has derived great pleasure from Nature study, I heartily rejoice to see the move to provide similar enjoyment for others by teaching natural history in our elementary schools in country districts. But I wish to give a word of warning to the promoters of the scheme. As probably few of the teachers in elementary schools have much knowledge of natural history, there is great danger that the teaching will in many cases be reduced to the encouragement of collections of birds, eggs, and flowers, and to the giving of prizes for such collections. If every boy and girl in our village schools is to become a collector, we are within sight of the extinction of our rarest birds and plants. I have known many cases where, on the habitat of a rare plant having been discovered, collectors have made such a raid upon it, by digging up roots and gathering wastefully, that the plant has become extinct in that neighbourhood. I do not know a greater nuisance to the real lover of Nature study than a boy egg-collector, who, with sharp eyes and plenty of leisure, is ever on the alert to rob every rare bird's nest. I fear that if we are to have the children in our village schools encouraged thus to destroy our rare birds and plants, there will soon be no rare birds and plants left for our enjoy-
Previous page
