PREFACE. 



Unloi'tuuately, ignoiuiice conceiniug the true worth 

 of numerous species of wild birds aud other feral ani- 

 mals is so widespread that it is frequently impossible 

 to present in public documents the requisite informa- 

 tion which will be of real service to the citizens — es- 

 pecially farmers and horticulturists — who should be 

 fully and correctly informed of the economic relations 

 of the different forms of animal life which have such 

 an important place in nature's garden. 



This ignorance is not by any means confined, as 

 many would have us believe, to those in humble walks 

 of life. The merry, light-hearted and active picca- 

 iiinnys of the south watch with especial interest birds, 

 mammals and insects iu their chosen haunts. Such 

 obs.^rvers, without books or educated instructors, have 

 learned from the great book of nature truths which 

 would make the hearts of naturalists throb with de- 

 light; and, if placed on record, some of these observa- 

 tions would, no doubt, materially add to scientific lit- 

 erature. Again, we find a class of stalwart, rough 

 bat ingenuous mountaineers and woodsmen who, 

 from their early boyhood days, have been obliged to 

 struggle and labor incessantly to maintain themselves 

 with the necessities of life. These men, good-hearted 

 and true that they are. have not had the advantages 

 of education ; they do not. of course, know the latin 

 names of the wild creatures which a Wise Creator has 

 placed in the ample field of nature, and in many in 

 stances they do not even know the proper common 



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