INTRODUCTION. 



The Study of Animal Life is begun when we first learn 

 the names of our household pets, and begin to note the 

 differences between them. It is continued so long as our 

 eyes and ears are open to observe the nature and capacities 

 of the animals with which our daily life brings us in con- 

 tact. The horses that draw our carriage, the dogs that 

 answer our call, the birds that delight our ears with their 

 songs from the tree tops, the insects that flit before our 

 eyes among the flowers of the garden, all are continually 

 illustrating phases of animal life, some of which cannot 

 escape the notice of the most casual observer. 



Every one knows that animals must have food. When 

 they are young, they require food for growth ; and when 

 they are grown, they require food to furnish bodily strength. 

 They require air also, fresh air, containing oxygen, for 

 the oxygen is the essential thing. A bird inclosed in an 

 air-tight box with plenty of food, or a fish placed in a small 

 quantity of clean water, soon dies, because the available 

 supply of oxygen is soon exhausted. 



Every one knows that, sooner or later, animals die, and 

 that they leave descendants to perpetuate their race upon 

 the earth ; and every one should know that not all their 

 young come to maturity, and that the number of their prog- 

 eny is proportioned to the vicissitudes to which their life 

 is exposed. 



Every one knows that animals move, that most of them 

 move freely from place to place, and that those which are 



9 



