VI 



Preface 



garded wild things as mere living targets, and have seen in 

 them nothing but savage or timorous creatures, killing, or 

 escaping being killed, quite forgetting that they have their 

 homes, their mates, their problems and their sorrows — in 

 short, a home-life that is their real life, and very often much 

 larger and more important than that of which our hostile 

 standpoint has given us such fleeting glimpses. 



The facts in these two volumes have, for the most part, 

 long been known to me, and have formed a part of my 

 equipment, yet I set them forth accredited to the men who 

 first observed them. I have done this, even when they 

 have been covered and more than covered by my own 

 observations. 



Theoretically, I have treated each species under thirty 

 divisional heads, but am shocked to find in how many 

 cases the heading is missing, because there were no facts 

 available for classification under it. No one knows better 

 than I, then, how many gaps and imperfections are to be 

 found herein, and in view of this I hope the critics will 

 overlook the weak spots, and seek rather for the things 

 that make for usefulness. 



As this is a book of Life-histories or habits, I have 

 occupied myself as little as possible with anatomy, and 

 have given only so much description of each animal as 

 is necessary for identification. My theme is the living 

 animal. 



No one who believes in Evolution can doubt that man's 

 mind, as well as his body, had its origin in the animals 

 below him. 



