PREFACE 



HE concluding sections of this Library, dealing with animals of other lands, 

 are not entirely new, but are revised reprints of an earlier successful work, 

 ' The Living Animals of the World." The chief change made in this text 

 has been to eliminate, so far as possible, references to American birds and 

 mammals. Some cutting down in other directions was also necessary, with 

 the result that the cream of five large volumes is here given in two volumes, 

 and none of the matter duplicates what has gone before. 



The publishers fee! justified in retaining this material from the fact that 

 it has been widely sold and commended in its former shape It contains 

 what is believed to be the finest portrait gallery of wild animals ever collected 

 in the covers of one work. From every page they greet the reader, life and action 

 showing in each pose. The materials, in respect to both pictures and text, have been 

 gathered from the whole world, and represent the latest studies, much of which has never 

 been popularly published heretofore. Specialists of distinction and renowned scientific 

 travelers have contributed photographs and field-notes, often from remote regions where 

 alone many of the most rare and interesting animals may be found. These unique con- 

 tributions come from the most distant islands of the Southern Ocean, the deserts and coral 

 reefs of Australia, the New Zealand hills, the Indian jungle, the African forest and veldt, 

 ami the wilds of tropical and South America. Wherever it has not been possible to get 

 really good pictures of wild creatures in their native haunts, living examples have been 

 sought in the great Zoological Gardens of the world — London, Berlin, Antwerp, Florence, 

 New York, Calcutta, and Sydney. 



It is one of the most important functions of out-door photography, to-day, to preserve 

 for posterity a record of passing conditions and of diminishing species; and a work like 

 the present is of permanent interest, and will increase in historical and bibliographical value 

 as time goes on. Such a book, covering in an entertaining style the whole range of zoology, 

 carefully prepared by men of exact knowledge, yet avoiding technicalities, and wholly 

 illustrated by precise reproductions of photographs, many in life colors, is not only novel and 

 beautiful but is also of high value as an educator; and it would seem to be as indispensable 

 a part of the library of every family and school-room as is the dictionary or yearbook, since 

 by its aid all reading may be illuminated, and perchance corrected, and the whole view of 

 nature enlightened and enlarged. 



The editors have had the assistance of the most eminent authorities in other lands. 

 Mr. F. C. Selous deals with the African Lion and the Elephants, with which he has had 

 thrilling experiences; and other sportsmen treat of other game animals of the Dark Continent. 

 To Mr. W. Saville-Kent, author of " The Great Barrier Reef," has been assigned the 

 Marsupials of Australia, and also the Reptiles generally. Sir Herbert E. Maxwell writes 

 on the Salmon family, and so on; while Dr. Richard Lydekker, Dr. R. Bower Sharpe, Mr. F. W. 

 Kirby, and other specialists are editorial advisers in regard to the branches in which they stand 

 as authorities 



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