Vlll PREFACE. 



edge of many a dark cloud. He does not expect by written 

 words to be able to communicate the vividness of those 

 impressions which are produced by actual observation ; it 

 will suffice, if an additional source of innocent gratification 

 be pointed out, or an additional testimony borne to the 

 wisdom and goodness of our beneficent Creator. 



The plan of the Work consists of a series of conversations 

 on the subject of natural history, supposed to pass between 

 a father and son, during successive walks, taken at the 

 various seasons of the year : so that it may be considered 

 as in some degree a kind of Canadian " Naturalist's Calen- 

 dar." As the form of dialogue has of late become somewhat 

 " out of fashion," the Author feels it to be due to the public 

 to explain the reasons which induced him to throw the Work 

 into such a shape. He thought that by taking the reader, 

 as it were, and transporting him into the midst of the very 

 scenes and objects represented, a life and a vigour might be 

 preserved, which would be wanting in a formal narrative. 

 And many little trifles might be thus touched, which could 

 be noticed in no other form, but which, nevertheless, all 

 help to make up a true picture. Thus, too, we may ramble 

 from one subject to another (as the humming-bird way- 

 wardly shoots from flower to flower), often by a transition 

 more abrupt than could be permitted in a systematic dis- 

 course. If these transitions in any case appear to be too 



