of some thirty years, from the time when I 

 first began to prowl about the home woods 

 with a child's wonder and delight to my last 

 hard winter trip into the Canadian wilder- 

 ness. Some of the chapters, like those of the 

 Woodcock and the Coon, represent the charac- 

 teristics of scores of animals and birds of the 

 same species ; others, like those of the Bear 

 and Eider-Duck in "Animal Surgery" repre- 

 sent the acute intelligence of certain individ- 

 ual animals that nature seems to have lifted 

 enormously above the level of their fellows ; 

 and in a single case that of the Toad / 

 have, for tlie story s sake, gathered into one 

 creatitre the habits of four or Jive of these 

 humble little helpers of ours that I have 

 watched at different times and in different 

 places. 



The queer names herein used for beasts 

 and birds are those given by the Milicete 

 Indians, and represent usually some sound 

 or suggestion of the creatures themselves. 

 Except where it is plainly stated otherwise, 

 all the incidents and observations have passed 

 under my own eyes and have been confirmed 



