Excerpt from Harper's Book for Young Naturalists: A Guide to Collecting and Preparing Specimens, With Descriptions of the Life, Habits and Haunts of Birds, Insects, Plants, Etc Early every normal boy possesses an inborn desire to collect something. Whether this tendency finds expression in gathering butter ies, mineral specimens, birds' eggs, or other objects depends largely upon the boy's surroundings and opportunity. There is no question as to the value and interest of collections, if properly made, even of very ordinary things, but in the majority of cases the boys' collections are merely hodge-podge accumulations of trash, and worthless odds and ends gathered here, there, and everywhere Without definite object or reason. Such collections are worthless, and merely litter up a home, and prove a nuisance; and it is this class of collecting that has caused many parents to frown on collections of any kind. Stamps, coins, relics, and antiquities all have their proper place and value, but such things do not necessitate any knowledge of nature or her ways; nor do they take the col lector out into highways and byways, to woods and meadows, fields and glades, to Seek his specimens. The collection of any class of objects that will get the boy out into the open and close to nature, should be encouraged and commended, and when such collections are made with any sort of system they cannot fail to be of educational value. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."