PREFACE 



THIS is simply a book of animals and is made 

 up from the Author's personal notes and 

 sketches. All scientific names have been 

 omitted and big words avoided as far as prac- 

 ticable, and it is hoped and believed that some of 

 the notes and drawings may be of value to older 

 readers for 



In nature there is nothing unimportant, 

 There is nothing uninteresting, 

 And nothing fully understood! 



Hence any careful observer's notes must be of 

 value in adding to the general knowledge of the 

 subject. 



What we need and what is coming is an un- 

 selfish, passionate love of Nature, not for Nature's 

 sake, but for humanity's sake; such a love is whole- 

 some, manly, invigorating, and uplifting. 



Born in an artist's family, accustomed from in- 

 fancy to the society of sculptors, painters, and 

 poets, it was natural for me when a lad to dream 

 dreams and build castles in the air, but these cas- 

 tles did not glitter with gold nor was the sun re- 

 flected from their jeweled turrets and bespangled 

 domes. The dreams were of the wilderness and a 

 fairyland inhabited by all manner of wild creatures 

 and wild people like those described by Captain 

 Mayne Reid; a country where the towering moun- 



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