72 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



intelligent and even rational beings. The book en- 

 countered rather merciless treatment from some of the 

 reviewers, who apparently could not bring themselves 

 to believe that the stories recounted therein were 

 true. But it met, nevertheless, with much favour at 

 the hands of the public, and, just twenty years later, 

 was reissued in a revised and extended form. 



In 1864 my father began perhaps the most popular 

 work which he ever wrote, and which has always been 

 specially associated with his name the well-known 

 " Homes without Hands." In this he set himself to 

 describe the various habitations constructed by different 

 animals for the use of themselves or their young, a 

 task which he completed in a stout octavo volume of 

 some six hundred and thirty pages. The work, "how- 

 ever, which appeared under the auspices of Messrs. 

 Longmans, Green, & Co., was in the first place pub- 

 lished in monthly parts, just as the larger Natural 

 History had been ; and its publication in volume form 

 did not take place until 1865. 



The popularity of the book was soon assured, even 

 if the previous issues of the monthly parts had not 

 paved the way for its production as a whole. Only 

 a few days after its appearance The Times devoted no 

 less than four columns to a review of the work, and 

 spoke of it throughout in the very highest terms. The 

 other newspapers, daily and weekly, followed suit, and 

 the consequence was that, perhaps putting " Common 

 Objects of the Country " out of the question, " Homes 

 without Hands " proved by far the most popular 



