PRELIMINARY WORDS 



THE facts of nature are not limited by 

 geographical boundaries ; their inter- 

 pretation is not the property of any cult. 

 The East and the West grade into each so in- 

 sensibly that the Occident is reached ere one 

 has removed the Orient's dust from his feet. 

 The birds, the beasts, the plants appear to have 

 much in common, and really do have, unless 

 one compares the extremes. So the traveler 

 from Massachusetts and Ohio will see much 

 that is familiar in Nebraska or Dakota as he is 

 whirled along in comfort and pleasure. 



It was not always thus. Earlier, in my girl- 

 hood days, animals were daily, even hourly, seen 

 that are now almost things of the past rare 

 and little known. They first were seen from 

 the doors of our "dugout," that rude sort of 

 sod-house, half cave, half house, which in these 

 later days has been replaced by palatial homes. 

 They became familiar objects to the little west- 

 ern girl who had no playmates save those which 



