Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/16



habits of animals will never be thoroughly known till they are observed in detail. Nor is it sufficient to mark them with attention now and then; they must be closely watched, their various actions carefully noted, their behaviour under different circumstances, and especially those movements which seem to us mere vagaries, undirected by any suggestible motive or cause, well examined. A rich fruit of result, often most curious and unexpected, and often singularly illustrative of peculiarities of structure, will, I am sure, reward any one who studies living animals in this way. The most interesting parts, by far, of published natural history, are those minute, but most graphic particulars, which have been gathered by an attentive watching of individual animals. Many examples crowd up to my mind;—Wilson's picture of the Mocking-bird; Vigors's of the Toucan; Broderip's of his Beaver "Binny;" Wollaston's of the Water–Shrew; Bennett's of the Bird of Paradise, and multitudes more.

It is true that observations of this kind make us acquainted rather with an individual than with a species; and long experience has convinced me that this is not a distinction without a difference. There is an idiosyncrasy in the inferior animals, I am persuaded,—not so great or varied, probably, as in Man, since the more highly any faculty is developed, the more susceptible it is of