viii PREFACE. 



of interesting materials for Natural History. The whole Australian world has been 

 made known in our (lav, ami it lias furnished its Ark of Beasts and Birds and Creep- 

 ing Things — curious, Btrange, and wonderful -its birds alone filling Beven volu a 



foliol The na\ ies and armies of e\ er\ civilized nation have now their corps of nat- 

 uralists, and even the Explorations for a Railroad to I he Pacific — a stupendous project, 



and worthy of great and g I results give to the world whole quartos of the most 



profound scientific research in respect to our local zoology.* And hence it is that the 

 treatises on Natural History amount to entire libraries. The works consulted by 

 Professor Baird, in the compilation of his Ma/mmals and JBi/rds of North Amrrtca, 

 arc in every language of Europe, and comprise, I believe, over two thousand vol- 

 ume- : and all this in addition to his examination of specimens. Such is the vast ex- 

 tent of this subjeel as presented in the books! 



And yet, notwithstanding this affluence of materials, and this grandeur to which 

 the subject has been elevated by the combined labors of the civilized world; notwith- 

 standing its inherent interest, and its general popularity through traditional associa- 

 tions with eminent writers of the past century, it is a remarkable fact, that there is 

 not, in this country, a single publication which even pretends to give a popular view 

 of the Animal Kingdom, as science now presents it. It is to be observed, that nearly 

 all these works which we have mentioned are strictly scientific, and at the same time 

 spi cial, and. in view of the whole science, fragmentary. It is true that in England, 

 France, and more particularly in Germany, there are many popular treatises on 

 Natural History, but these for the most part are confined to particular branches of 

 science — one to birds, another to quadrupeds, another to insects, and another to mol- 

 lusca, &c. Some of our state governments have caused works on zoology to be pub- 

 lished, such as that of New Fork, issued under the superintendence of Dr. De Kay, 

 that of Massachusetts, by Dr. Storer and others, and that of Ohio, by Dr. Kirtland; 

 but even these clever works are not only in mere outline, but they are local and 

 partial. No one. al least in the English language, has recently ventured upon the 

 attempt to present the whole subject in a comprehensive, popular form. There are 

 condensed scientific outlines, indeed, but these are little more than expanded cata- 

 logues or classifications of the whole science, and one of them — that of Dr. Chenu, for 

 instance, now near its completion in Paris — comprises ten volumes quarto! Thecele- 

 brated classification of the Genera of Birds, by G. R. Gray, published in London in 

 L849, comprises three volumes quarto, and costs one hundred and fifty dollars! 

 There are also other works giving abridged skeletons or outlines of the whole field ; 

 but one suited to the people, or even designed tor the general reader, does not exist 



the two volumes on the Mammalia and Birds of North America, by Professor Baird," of the Smithsonian 

 •mini,, and jnat issued among the documents of the Ohited States Senate; these to be followed by a third 

 volume on Reptiles. 



