to
the fields, with invincible determination, having made up his mind that
he would get to know all about the plants and beasties, however much
the knowledge might cost him.

For this object, he bought a rusty old gun for four-and-sixpence, and
invested in a few boxes and bottles for catching insects. His working
hours were from six in the morning till nine at night, and for that
long day he always worked hard to support his wife, and (when they
came) his children. He had therefore only the night hours between nine
and six to do all his collecting. Any other man, almost, would have
given up the attempt as hopeless; but Edward resolved never to waste a
single moment or a single penny, and by care and indomitable energy he
succeeded in making his wished-for collection. Sometimes he was out
tramping the whole night; sometimes he slept anyhow, under a hedge or
haystack; sometimes he took up temporary quarters in a barn, an
outhouse, or a ruined castle. But night after night he went on
collecting, whenever he was able; and he watched the habits and manners
of the fox, the badger, the otter, the weasel, the stoat, the pole-cat,
and many other regular night-roamers as no one else, in all
probability, had ever before watched them in the whole world.

Sometimes he suffered terrible disappointments, due directly or
indirectly to his great poverty. Once, he took all his cases of
insects, containing nine hundred and sixteen specimens, and
representing the work of four years, up to his garret to keep them
there till he was able to glaze them. When he came to take them down
again he found to his horror that rats had got at the boxes, eaten
almost every insect in the whole collection, and left nothing behind
but the bare pins, with a few scattered legs, wings, and bodies,
sticking amongst them. Most men would have been so disgusted with this
miserable end to so much labour, that they would have given up moth
hunting for ever. But Edward was made of different stuff. He went to
work again as zealously as ever, and in four years more, he had got
most of the beetles, flies, and chafers as carefully collected as
before.

By the year 1845, Edward had gathered together about two thousand
specimens of beasts, birds, and insects found in the neighbourhood of
his own town of Banff. He made the cases to hold them himself, and did
it so neatly that, in the case of his shells, each kind had even a
separate little compartment all of