PREFACE. IX 



abrupt, the reader is at liberty to suppose the lapse of what 

 interval he pleases between the former and latter subjects ; 

 or the notice of any passing occurrence, which has changed 

 the current of conversation. Of course, the subject is very 

 far from being exhausted : the Author has confined his re- 

 marks, with very few exceptions, to those phenomena which 

 have passed under his personal observation : and every one 

 acquainted with out-of-door natural history, knows that each 

 recurring season presents to the admiring observer facts that 

 were before hidden and unknown. 



A word respecting the character of the Work: The Author 

 is fully aware how very limited is his acquaintance with this 

 boundless science ; having lived in the far-off wilds of the 

 west, where systems, books, and museums are almost un- 

 known, he has been compelled to draw water from Nature's 

 own well, and his knowledge of her is almost confined to 

 her appearance in the forest and the field. With the sys- 

 tems, which men of enlarged minds have, with patient 

 perseverance and studious research, arranged, — the most 

 laborious, but not the least useful part of the science, — 

 he has had little opportunity of making himself familiar. 

 It may be asked, '' why, then, under these disadvantages, 

 has he written at all ? " Not to instruct the learned, at 

 whose feet he is willing to sit as a learner ; but partly 

 to set forth the praise of the great and glorious God, who 



