NATURAL HISTORY OF A 



A GENERAL IDEA OF ANIMALS. 



ANIMALS are living beings which feed upon plants, 

 or, in many cases, upon animals whose food is 

 plants, and which have the sense of feeling and 

 the power of motion. The kinds of animals are very 

 numerous, more numerous -than the kinds of trees in 

 the forest and the flowers of the meadows and fields ; 

 and they are of all sizes, from those so minute that 

 thousands can sport in a drop of water, to those of 

 large dimensions, like the Horse and the Ox, the Ele- 

 phant and the Whale ; and their forms are as various 

 as their sizes and kinds. But the name Animal is 

 given to them all, whatever their size or form, and 

 whether they swim, creep, fly, walk, or run. 



Animals are most interesting objects for study, and 

 the child as well as the man is delighted with learning 

 their forms, structure, color, habits, and names, and 

 soon becomes as eager as a naturalist to find a new 

 Bird or a new Butterfly. 



Some kinds of animals, as Man, Cattle, Deer, Sheep, 

 Beasts of Prey, Birds, Turtles, Lizards, Snakes, Frogs, 

 and Fishes, have a backbone containing a spinal cord, 

 which is enlarged at the forward end into an organ 



