PREFACE 



THE greater number of the papers included in this 

 book have already appeared, like most of the Author's 

 work, in the pages of the Spectator and of Country Life, 

 and my sincerest thanks are due to the proprietors and 

 editors of those papers for the help and encourage- 

 ment which they have given me, and for permission to 

 reprint the essays in their present form. 



Some of the chapters my husband had himself re- 

 written and extended with a view to republication ; 

 the rest I have chosen from his numerous papers on 

 similar subjects which are available, as having most in 

 common with those he had already selected. 



I fear that the title " Animal Artisans " is not 

 applicable, in the current sense of the word artisan, 

 to all the subjects dealt with ; but if the word is inter- 

 preted in its original and wider sense, as meaning one 

 " skilled in any art, mystery, or trade," it does, I think, 

 apply to the greater number of animals whose habits 

 or activities are here described. 



In some chapters purely topical allusions, which have 

 become out of date, have been altered or removed ; 



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