PREFACE. 



ALTHOUGH works on Natural History would seem sufficiently 

 numerous to deter any new writer from venturing on the sub- 

 ject, still there is at present no work of a popular character in 

 which accuracy of information and systematic arrangement are 

 united with brevity and simplicity of treatment. 



All the best-known popular works on Natural History are 

 liable to many objections, among which may be named a want 

 of correct classification, the absence of explanations of the 

 meanings and derivations of scientific words, the strange in- 

 accuracy of many of the accompanying illustrations, and of 

 the accounts of many animals. Nor do the conventional anec- 

 dotes chronicled in their pages evince the personal experience 

 of the animal race which is best calculated to prevent romance 

 and inaccuracy. These deficiencies, it is hoped, will be at all 

 events partly supplied in the present work. 



The present volume, although exceeding the limits originally 

 contemplated, is but a brief digest of a large mass of materials, 

 derived either from personal experience, from the most recent 

 zoological writers, or from the kindness of many friends, who 

 are familiar with almost every portion of the world, and to 

 whom my best thanks are due. The original intention was 

 to carry the work as far as the Zoophytes, but it grew so 



