PREFACE. xi 



made. In the United States there are seven hundred known and described species 

 of birds; more than five hundred recognized species of fish; several hundred mam- 

 malia, and reptiles, insects, mollusca, and protozoa without number. In South Amer- 

 ica, Mexico, and Central America, there are three hundred kinds of humming-birds 

 and according to Mr. Sclater, in the same regions there are nearly two hundred tana- 

 gers, etc. In respect to other parts of the world the multiplicity of species is equally 

 great. In choosing amid this multitudinous mass, I have endeavored to select for 

 description the most remarkable species ; and as all could not be noticed, I have chosen 

 those which are representatives of large classes of analogous genera. I may indicate 

 the extent of particular descriptions by saying that I have noticed, with greater or less 

 detail, all or nearly all the species of birds and quadrupeds in Audubon's great work 071 

 the Ornithology of North America ; in the admirable works of Wilson and Nuttall ; 

 in the excellent work of Audubon and Bachman on the quadrupeds of North Amer- 

 ica ; in the able reports of De Kay, Storer, and Kirtland on the zoology of New York, 

 Massachusetts, and Ohio ; and in the more recent publication of Cassin on the birds 

 of California, &c. — the only fault of which is its brevity. There is, therefore, I believe, 

 no very important quadruped or bird, in the United Stateg, not noticed here. It is true 

 that there are some species which I have omitted, to be found in Baird's great and 

 important national work on the Mammalia and Birds of North America, issued under 

 the auspices of the government, to which I have already alluded ; but these are chiefly 

 of the smaller kinds, and generally belong to the remote and unexplored regions of 

 our continent. The recent acquisitions of Texas, New Mexico, California, and Utah 

 have brought within the bounds of the United States a vast extent of territory, and 

 thus have greatly enlarged the circle of our national fauna ; but all the important addi- 

 tions, even within these new territories, have, I believe, a place in the following pages. 

 In respect to other parts of the world, where the species are still more numerous and 

 diversified, the scale of selection is more circumscribed ; but still I believe no species 

 of particular interest among the higher orders of animals, either in Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, or Oceanica, has been omitted. 



That these volumes, while being primarily designed for popular reading, should also 

 be suited for general reference, is manifest ; and this necessity has not been disregarded. 

 In the General Index, at the close of the second volume, references will be found. 

 giving the popular and scientific names, and in most cases the form, size, color, and 

 habitat of more than four thousand species, and these, it is hoped, will be a sufficient 

 key to the whole field, however boundless, of the Animal Kingdom. 



Notwithstanding the multiplicity of species in the existing and living races of ani- 

 mals, those which geology has unfolded to our view — the Dead .Kingdom of Nature, 

 doubtless as populous as the living — could not be overlooked. It is a stupendous 

 fact, that in all the bones of these extinct generations, the same plan of organization is 

 visible as that which governed the structure of the living races ; thus showing that 



