PREFATORY NOTE 



THE chapters of this book were written 

 week by week for simultaneous publication 

 in the " Evening Transcript" of Boston and 

 the " Mail and Express " of New York, and 

 were intended to be a kind of weekly chron- 

 icle of the course of events out-of-doors, as 

 witnessed by a natural-historical observer. 

 The title of the volume is the running title 

 under which the articles were printed in the 

 "Evening Transcript." It was chosen as 

 expressive of the modest purpose of the 

 writer, whose business was not to be witty 

 or wise, but simply to " keep the records." 



