—Alan Dale, Observations and Experiments in
                                Natural History, 1960

OBSERVATIONS

Observations are usually 
Not too difficult to make.


1.

When I was living in Tamworth,
One year, towards the end of September,
Many of the leaves of my cherry tree
Became rather odd in appearance.


2.
Trout seem to learn that danger
Is associated with artificial flies;
Perhaps it is the hook in them.


3.
I once saw a frog attacked
And turned over by my dog
And lay quite still on its back.

I am positive it made quite
A separate movement to put
Its front feet over its ears.
Why did it?


PERSONAL NOTE

There is a poem by John Drinkwater
Called Pike Pool which has always
Appealed strongly to me.


EXPERIMENTS

1.
Catch butterflies and clip
Their wings with scissors.
Do your observations
Outside, where butterflies are numerous.


2.
Pinch through ten worms.
Obtain a fresh herring and place it
On an open plate. Leave it.


3.
Liberate a grasshopper and cause
It to jump by touching it. Make
It jump again—and again.

Do its leaps get more feeble?
Does the insect become more reluctant
To jump again after each leap?


LAST PERSONAL NOTE

Once I was walking across fields in Shropshire
To a river which, because of a rise
In the ground, I could not see.

I have preferred to know
Less and less about more and more.