Wild Life in New Zealand. Part I. Mammalia

Wild Life in New Zealand. Part I. Mammalia. - New Zealand Board of Science and Art. Manual No. 2.

In a land which depends to a very large extent on agricultural and pastoral pursuits and industries some knowledge of the animal and vegetable life of the country should be taught in every school, and the love of Nature in all her varied aspects should be inculcated in every child. The best way of acquiring such knowledge is by observation, and every child is more or less a naturalist from the start. It has been said that man is a classificatory animal, and it is wonderful how most children begin to collect such objects as interest them, and how, unconsciously, they begin to classify them. But, hand-in-hand with observational work, a certain amount of instruction is very helpful, and if the one can work in harmoniously with the other progress in the knowledge of Nature is greatly facilitated. Books conveying instruction in botany are common enough, but those dealing with the rudiments of zoological work in a form sufficiently attractive to the uninformed reader are by no means numerous. I do not know of any work dealing with the animals which are frequently met with in New Zealand, and in the hope of partly supplying this want I propose to write a few sketches of the wild life of the country, in which I shall attempt to give some account of those which are most common. The late Professor Hutton and Mr. James Drummond, of Christchurch, published some years ago a valuable work entitled Animals of New Zealand, which should be in every school [Pg 6]library. This, besides being rather expensive for most private readers, is a more or less technical work, and deals only with the higher vertebrate fauna indigenous to these Islands. Excellent little articles appear from time to time in the School Journal, but these are not readily procurable. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 56762
Author: Thomson, G. M. (George Malcolm)
Release Date: Mar 16, 2018
Format: eBook
Language: English