ome of which are little better than rubbish, and give
naturalists a miserable idea of the real beauty of the birds in their
native homes. But no one can tell the immense amount of labour it cost
me to make this collection, as you will see, Nat, when we open this next
case."

Uncle Dick was right. I was astonished as we emptied the next case,
which was full of tiny specimens, hundreds upon hundreds of
humming-birds, with crests and throats like beautiful precious stones,
and all so small that it seemed wonderful how they could have been
skinned and preserved.

The more I worked with Uncle Dick the more I wondered, and the stronger
grew my desire to follow in his steps. So when we had all the birds out
so that they could dry in the warm air of the room, there were the cases
full of beetles of all kinds, with glistening horny wing-cases;
butterflies so large and beautiful that I used to lean over them, feast
my eyes on their colours, and then go into day-dreams, in which I
pictured to myself the wonderful far-off lands that produced such
creatures, and think and think how it would be possible to go out there
all alone, as my uncle had gone, and spend years in collecting these
various objects to bring home.

Then I used to wake up again and work hard with my uncle, writing out
names in his lists, all as carefully as I could, but of course making
plenty of mistakes in the Latin names, while Uncle Joe used to sit and
smoke and look on, rarely speaking for fear of interrupting us, till
Uncle Dick looked up and started a conversation by way of a rest.

Then all the different birds when thoroughly dry had to be repacked in
the boxes, with plenty of camphor and other preservative spices and gums
to keep the various insects away, and quite a couple of months had
slipped away before we were nearly done.

I ought to have been back at school, but Uncle Dick would not hear of my
going, and he seemed to have such influence over my aunt that his word
was quite law.

"No, Sophy, I have not half done with him," he said one evening. "I
don't want to flatter the boy, but he is very valuable to me. I could
easily get a clerk or copyist to make out my lists and help me select
and rearrange my specimens; but he would do it mechanically. Nat takes
an interest in what he is doing, and is a naturalist at heart."

"But he ought to be going on with his studies," said Aunt Sophia. "It
is quite time he was back at school."

"He is le