16 INTBOD UCTION. 



and fro, with the passing seasons; about the butterflies, 

 and moths which come and go with the summer blossoms, 

 and he is familiar with the lowliest of the creeping things 

 found upon his path. Such simple lore is never without 

 interest to those who delight in the face of the earth, to 

 those who love to honor the Creator in the study -of his 

 works. It is pleasant to know familiarly the plants which 

 spring up at our feet; we like to establish a sort of inti- 

 macy with the birds which, year after year, come singing 

 about our homes ; and, on the other hand, when told of 

 the wonders of a foreign vegetation, differing essentially 

 from our own, when hearing of the habits of strange 

 creatures from other and distant climates, we listen eagerly 

 as to a tale of novelty. 



We Americans, indeed, are peculiarly placed in this 

 respect. As a people, we are still, in some sense, half 



aliens to the country Providence has given us; there is 

 4| 

 much ignorance among us regarding the creatures which 



held the land as their own long before our forefathers 

 trod the soil, and many of which are still moving about 

 us, living accessories of our existence, at the present hour. 

 On the other hand, again, English reading has made us 

 very familiar with the names, at least, of those races which 

 people the old world. From the nursery epic, relating the 

 melancholy fate of "Cock Robin," and the numerous 



