vi PREFACE 



advice as to a good general book on Natural History are amongst those very 

 frequently to be found in the foreign letter-box of the Secretary of the Zoological 

 Society of London, and it will be a great satisfaction to him to be able to answer 

 them in a definite way. 



As regards the Illustrations to be employed in the present work, there need not 

 be any apprehension as to their fitness for the purpose. They are mainly drawn 

 from what is newest and most satisfactory in the current and largely augmented 

 edition of Brehm's Tierleben, which is familiar to naturalists as one of the best 

 illustrated works on popular Natural History ever issued. Specht and Mlitzel, 

 for instance, to whose artistic pencils a large proportion of these pictures are due, 

 are well known as being among the most charming portrayers of animal life of 

 the present day, rivalling even Joseph Wolf and Keulemans in their sketches ; 

 and many of the other illustrators are of equally favourable reputation. Moreover, 

 to this nucleus of acknowledged excellence there have been added many original 

 drawings and engravings of a similar standard of pictorial merit, including not 

 a few electrotypes from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society and other 

 recognised sources of recent and trustworthy animal portraiture. 



The public are much indebted to private enterprise for ventures of such 

 magnitude as The Royal Natural History, in which, on an unusually wide 

 scale, there is a genuine endeavour to give the results of modern investigation in a 

 convenient and appropriate form, worthy in every respect of the subject, and under 

 such arrangements as practically place the volumes within everybody's reach. 



The study of Natural History has always been deservedly popular with 

 young and old ; its interest and its educational value as an incentive to thought 

 and as a stimulant to observational power have ever held high place. The whole 

 civilised world gains by any addition to the facilities of its pursuit, and by any 



