PREFACE. ix 



in our language.* And vet the desirableness, nay, the necessity of such a work, is 

 obvious, but who shall attempt to popularize a subject so vast, so boundless? No 

 one has entered upon a task so formidable, if not so hopeless. The audacity, or per- 

 haps the folly, as it may prove, of attempting to supply this want, seems to have been 

 reserved for the author of these pages. 



The immense extent of the subject is not the only, nor indeed the chief difficulty 

 with which the compiler has to contend. The popular mind of our day — at least in 

 this country — is too far advanced to be content with mere descriptions of isolated, spe- 

 cies ; all know at least something of classification, and nearly all desire to know more. 

 It would neither satisfy the public, nor be doing justice to the opportunity, in de- 

 scribing animals, to neglect to show them in their relations to other animals. Every 

 beast and bird and reptile and fish has its place in a chain of beings, and neither these 

 individuals, nor the Mighty Plan of Creation, can be at all comprehended unless by 

 treating each in connection with its affiliated genera. Classification, therefore— or 

 in other words, a Systematic Arrangement — was indispensable; and inasmuch as all 

 systems are expressed in technical terms, a considerable array of Greek and Latin 

 words, so frightful to many readers, was inevitable. The scientific writer presumes 

 that his readers understand Latin and Greek as well as their mother tongue. I write 

 for a different class, and am bound to presume that they are not familiar with these 

 languages. While, therefore, I am compelled to use them, I have sought to mitigate 

 the difficulty by abundant explanations of technical terms. 



Nevertheless, the skeleton of system and classification remains, and I must reconcile 

 with this, an abundance of details, descriptions, incidents. To hit upon a just balance 

 between these necessities, may demand a nicer judgment than belongs to any man. 

 That I have satisfied the requisitions of the scientific naturalist on the one side, and 

 of the lovers of narrative, anecdote, and illustration, on the other, is indeed my hope, 

 though hardly my expectation. If I am crushed between the two, I shall console 

 myself as well as I may with the consciousness that the attempt was worthy of better 

 success. 



To these considerations I have little to add. I may be permitted, howevc r, to no- 

 tice particularly one principal feature of the work, and that is, the abundance of the 

 engravings. It is admitted that pictures are the best describers of the forms of ani- 

 mals. A single wood-cut will give a more accurate and indelible impression of the 

 personal appearance and aspect of a lion, a giraffe, an eagle, or a hippopotamus, than 

 whole pages of verbal description. I have known children J)' trn and bred in the city, 



— - - ■ — ^ 



* '-It is not to be overlooked," says Agassiz, in the preface to his "Contributions to the Natural History of the 

 United States," "that while our scientific libraries are still very defective, there is a class of elementary works 

 unon Natural History widely circulated in Europe, and accompanied with numerous illustrations, which are still 

 entirely unknown in this country." * * * * "There has not been published (in the United- States) a single 

 text-book embracing the whole animal kingdom." 



