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[Illustration]




                                OUTINGS
                              AT ODD TIMES

                                   BY

                        CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M. D.

              AUTHOR OF A NATURALIST’S RAMBLES ABOUT HOME,
                        DAYS OUT OF DOORS, ETC.

                             [Illustration]

                                NEW YORK
                        D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
                                  1890




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                            COPYRIGHT, 1890,
                      BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.




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                               PREFATORY.

                                -------




                      Nature, and Books about it.


Often, during a long and dusty walk in midsummer, I have chanced
suddenly upon a wayside spring, and stooping drank directly from the
bosom of Mother Earth. Filled with the pleasant recollections of such
moments, how tame is all other tipple, even though the crystal is a
marvel of art, with “beady bubbles winking at the brim”!

So, too, I find it with matters of graver import. I would that no one
should aid me in gathering my stores, but with my own hands I would
delve at the fountain-head. The spirit of such an aim is a spur to
youth, but becomes a source of amusement rather than a more serious
matter in our maturer years. I am more than willing now to take nature
at second hand. But is this safe? How far can we trust another’s eyes,
ears, and sense of touch and smell? There are critics scattered as
thickly as motes in a sunbeam, veritable know-alls, who shriek “Beware!”
when nature is reported; but, for all this, outdoor books are very
tempting to a host of people, and in the long run educate rather than
misinform. That ever two naturalists should wholly agree, after careful
study of an animal, is not probable. There will be the same differences
as exist between two translations of the same book. What a crow, a
mouse, or a gorgeous cluster of blooming lotus is to me, these will
never be to another; but, because of this, do not persist that your
neighbor is blind, deaf, or stupid. I recently had a horse ask me to let
down the bars; to another it would have been merely the meaningless fact
that the horse neighed.

Having an outdoor book in hand, when and how should it be read? It is no
doubt very tempting to think of a shady nook, or babbling bro