X PREFA CE. 



so far as is necessary to give completeness to the externals of 

 the animals studied. In a utilitarian view the branch of the sub- 

 ject which I have examined may be of the most interest ; but for 

 strictly scientific research the others are not less important, for 

 all must be exhausted before the natural history of an animal is 

 imderstood. 



By limiting myself to a few species, it has been possible for me 

 to descend to greater detail, in describing my animals, than was 

 possible to those who have gone before me, Avho have embraced 

 in their investigation a large portion of the animal kingdom, and 

 could afford to each species but a limited space. I appreciate 

 that I have burdened the text with a great accumulation of facts, 

 but I have been careful that they should be well attested. I 

 have omitted many observations from fear of prolixity. 



It is not to be denied that zoology, especially when treating 

 of the larger animals, man alone excepted, has been the subject 

 of less careful study than many, if not most, of the other natural 

 sciences. From the great extent of the field it is impossible for 

 any one man to explore originally the whole or any considerable 

 part of it, except in the most general way. It has been impos- 

 sible for any of our great naturalists to descend to that minute- 

 ness in their investigations which characterizes the students of 

 some other branches of science. Let us admire the painstaking 

 archseologist who overlooks nothing which can throw a ray of 

 light upon the subject of his inquiry. A chip from a flint imple- 

 ment ; an impress upon a piece of pottery ; a hole in a pebble ; a 

 scratch on a fragment of bone, — all are noticed, recorded, pon- 

 dered, and compared with others, brought perhaps from a distant 

 part of the world, until that which was dark and unmeaning be- 

 comes light and instructive. So by patience and perseverance the 

 student learns how to observe those letters of antiquity, to com- 

 prehend their value and significance, and to combine them into 

 words and sentences and discourses, while those who have not 

 thus trained themselves can see nothing but chips and fragments 

 and scratches. 



