A WORD AT TEE START. 15 



fellows as to the natural history of the neighborhood ; 

 and it is possible that what you fail to discover during 

 your rambles will be learned by applying to the practi- 

 cal Uz Gaunt of your neighborhood. Such was my ex- 

 perience, and, in advising my readers to adopt a similar 

 course, I can only hope that they may be so fortunate as 

 to meet with one whose love of Nature was as sincere 

 as was that of my old friend and teacher; and, that 

 they can the better realize what manner of man he 

 was, I have ventured to add " specimen days " spent 

 with him, and record some of his observations in his 

 own words. 



As a result of many years of rambling about home, I 

 have seen most if not all of the animals that are now to be 

 found here ; and, whenever I saw any of them under cir- 

 cumstances that were of peculiar interest, I made a note 

 of it. At various times, and in various publications, as 

 " Hardwicke's Science Gossip " and " Nature " (London), 

 " The American Naturalist " (Philadelphia), " Science " 

 (Cambridge), and " The Popular Science Monthly " (New 

 York), some of these field-notes have already appeared. 

 The willingness, on the part of the publishers of these 

 various serials, to have me reproduce them in their pres- 

 ent form, is here gratefully acknowledged. 



Rather than mar the pages with innumerable brackets, 

 inclosing the scientific names of the animals I have had 

 occasion to mention, I have added a complete list of the 

 mammals, birds, reptiles, batrachians, and fishes of Mer- 

 cer County, New Jersey. The common or local names I 

 have used in the body of the work are here repeated, with 

 the name now adopted by the systematists. This list will 

 prove, I hope, of some value to those interested in the 

 subject of the geographical distribution of our animals ; 

 and will, at least, prevent any difficulty in properly iden- 



