xvi INTRODUCTION 



the experience and the thought that, even if unconsciously, 

 one has been accepted as a part of the surroundings, there 

 is a well-founded satisfaction in realizing that one is making 

 an actual contribution to our knowledge of animal life, not 

 based on the study of creatures in captivity, or of those 

 placed under greater or less restraint by fear, but of ani- 

 mals in tlieir native haunts, living their lives under abso- 

 lutely natural conditions. 



'j'lic riiihiclhi lUiiiil iii'ar a Fish Hawk's Xest 



The cover is here detachable. In addition to tlie guys, stones have 

 been placed on the bottom of the cover to help stay the blind 

 in this exposed situation. (Gardiner's Island, June, 1908. The 

 pictures on pages 56 and 57 were made from the blind in this 

 position.) 



