I have often wished I could convey to others a little of the happiness I
have enjoyed all through my life in the study of Natural History. During
twenty years of variable health, the companionship of the animal world
has been my constant solace and delight. To keep my own memory fresh, in
the first instance, and afterwards with a distinct intention of
repeating my single experiences to others, I have kept notes of whatever
has seemed to me worthy of record in the life of my pets. Some of these
papers have already appeared in _The Animal World_; the majority are
now printed for the first time.
In the following chapters I shall try to have quiet talks with my
readers and tell them in a simple way about the many pleasant
friendships I have had with animals, birds, and insects. I use the word
friendships advisedly, because truly to know and enjoy the society of a
pet creature you must make it feel that you are, or wish to be, its
friend, one to whom it can always look for food, shelter, and solace; it
must be at ease and at home with you before its instincts and curious
ways will be shown. Sometimes when friends have wished me to see their
so-called "pet," some scared animal or poor fluttering bird has been
brought, for whom my deepest sympathy has been excited; and yet there
may have been perhaps the kindest desire to make the creature happy,
food provided in abundance, and a pleasant home; but these alone will
not avail. For lack of the quiet gentle treatment which is so requisite,
the poor little captive will possibly be miserable, pining for liberty,
hating its prison, dreading the visits of its jailor, and so harassed in
its terror that in some cases the poor little heart is broken, and in a
few hours death is the result. In the following simple sketches of
animal, bird, and insect life, I have tried to show how confidence must
be gained, and the little wild heart won by quiet and unvarying
kindness, and also by the endeavour to imitate as much as possible the
natural surroundings of its own life before its capture. I must confess
it requires a large fund of patience to tame any wild creature, and it
is rarely possible to succeed unless one's efforts begin in its very
early days, before it has known the sweets of liberty.
In many cases I have kept a wild animal or bird for a few days to learn
something of its ways, possibly to make a drawing of its attitudes or
plumage, and then let it go, else nearly all my pets, except imported
creatures, have been reared from infancy, an invalid's life and
wakefulness making early-morning feeding of young fledglings less
difficult than it would have been in many cases, and often have painful
hours been made bearable and pleasant by the interest arising from
careful observation of the habits and ways of some new pet animal or
bird.
I have always strongly maintained that the love of animated nature
should be fostered far more than it usually is, and especially in the
minds of the young; and that, in fact, we lose an immense amount of
enjoyment by passing through life as so many do without a spark of
interest in the marvellous world of nature, that book whose pages are
ever lying open before us.
The beauties of the country might as well have been left uncreated for
all the interest that thousands take in them. Not only town dwellers,
who might be excused for their ignorance, but those who live in the
midst of fields and woods, often know so little about the curious
creatures in fur and feathers that exist around them that they are
surprised when told the simplest facts about these, their near
neighbours.
One reason may be, that it is now so much the fashion to spend the year
in various places, and those always moving about have neither the time
nor opportunity to cultivate the little undergrowths of quiet pleasures
which spring out of a settled home in the country, with its well-tended
garden and farmyard, greenhouses, stable, and fields--the horses and
cattle, petted and kindly cared for from their birth, dogs and poultry,
and all kinds of special favourites.
There is a healthy, happy tone about such a life, and where it exists
and is rightly maintained, good influence is, or ought to be, felt in
and around the home. Almost all children have a natural love of living
creatures, and if they are told interesting facts about them they soon
become ardent naturalists. I well remember that in my childhood I had a
great dread of toads and frogs, and a relative, to whom I owe much for
having directed my mind into the love of animated nature, took up a frog
in her hand and made me look at the beautiful gold circle round its
eyes, its curious webbed feet, its leaping power arising from the long
hind legs; she told me also of its wonderful tongue, so long and
flexible that it folded back in its mouth, and that the frog would sit
at the edge of an ant-hill and throwing out the tongue with its sticky
point, would pick off the ants one by one as they came out. When I
learnt all this, I began to watch such a curious reptile; my fears
vanished, and like Kingsley's little daughter, who had been wisely led
to care for all living things and came running to show her father a
"dear delightful worm" she had found! so I, too, have been led all
through my life to regard every created thing, great or small,
attractive or otherwise, as an object well worth the most reverent
study.
Perhaps I ought to explain that I have described methods of taming,
feeding, and housing one's pets with extreme minuteness in order to help
those of my readers who may be very fond of live creatures, and yet from
lack of opportunity may have gained no knowledge of their mode of life,
and what is required to keep them happily in health and vigour. I have
had to learn by experience that attention to very small details is the
road to success in keeping pets as well as in other things, and the
desire to pass on that experience must be my excuse to more scientific
readers for seeming triviality.
Many admirable books have been written by those well qualified to impart
their knowledge in every branch of Natural History, and the more such
books are read the better, but the following pages simply contain the
life histories of my pets and what I personally have observed about
them. I shall be glad indeed if they supply any useful information, or
lead others to the more careful study of the common every-day things
around them with a view to more kindness being shown to all living
creatures, and tender consideration for them. I trust I may feel that
this little book will then have attained its purpose. May it especially
tend to lead the young to see how this beautiful world is full of
wonders of every kind, full of evidences of the Great Creator's wisdom
and skill in adapting each created thing to its special purpose, and
from the whole realm of nature may they be taught lessons in parables,
and their hearts be led upward to God Himself, who made all things to
reflect His own perfection and glory.
"Gem, flower, and fish, the bird, the brute,
Of every kind occult or known
(Each exquisitely form'd to suit
Its humble lot, and that alone),
Through ocean, earth, and air fulfil
Unconsciously their Maker's will."