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 



