Page:Bird Haunts and Nature Memories - Thomas Coward (Warne, 1922).pdf/183

 HERE are to-day amongst the working classes a large number of men who fully deserve the title naturalist; they attend science classes, read at the libraries, often have a small but well selected library of their own, and both possess and know how to use a microscope. These men, by careful use of spare time, a keen delight in their hobby, and a determination to see and find out for themselves, often have a more intimate knowledge of wild nature than the systematic and academic scientists whose names figure in the scientific journals. But about the middle of the last century there flourished men of a very different type, whose counterpart hardly exists to-day; a few, but only a few, survive. They had few books, and indeed seldom referred to books, though they took delight in clapping systematic names to their boarded specimens; they were collectors and especially competitive collectors; their great pride was the possession of rare specimens which their companions had not got.

The keen interest taken in sport, football in particular, is largely responsible for the lack of enthusiasm about natural science, though the artisan often takes pleasure in seeing wild beasts and loves flowers and the songs of birds. The working man, when not looking for the latest winner, often reads short and generally erroneous paragraphs about natural history in his Sunday paper, or in the trashy paste-and-scissors journals, gleaning a