AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xvii 



approach. He will also suffer at times from 

 heat, thirst, weariness, and mental depression. 

 Mosquitoes and other insects will bite and 

 sting him. Sometimes his efforts will be baf- 

 fled and his hopes disappointed, and he will 

 even be tempted more than once to doubt his 

 "call" to the study of feathered creatures. 

 But difficulties should not daunt him. He 

 should rather feel a pride and an exhilaration 

 in overcoming them, and should remember that 

 faint heart never won anything that w^as worth 

 winning. The delights of discovery and of 

 commerce with Nature will more than compen- 

 sate him for the few discouragements in the 

 way. There is no royal road to natural his- 

 tory, but it is, nevertheless, a most enchanting 

 road. L. S. K. 



April 18, 1898. 



