iv PREFATORY. 



table know-alls, who shriek " Beware ! " when na- 

 ture is reported ; but, for all this, outdoor books 

 are very tempting to a host of people, and in the 

 long run educate rather than misinform. Th'at 

 ever two naturalists should wholly agree, after 

 careful ' study of an animal, is not probable. 

 There will be the same differences as exist be- 

 tween two translations of the same book. What 

 a crow, a mouse, or a gorgeous cluster of bloom- 

 ing lotus is to me, these will never be to another ; 

 but, because of this, do not persist that your 

 neighbor is blind, deaf, or stupid. I recently had 

 a horse ask me to let down the bars ; to another 

 it would have been merely the meaningless fact 

 that the horse neighed. 



Having an outdoor book in hand, when and 

 how should it be read ? It is no doubt very 

 tempting to think of a shady nook, or babbling 

 brook, or both, in connection with the latest out- 

 door volume. Possibly, as you start out for a 

 quiet day, you string together a bit of rhyme con- 

 cerning the book, as Leigh Hunt did and others 

 have done since. It is a common practice to 

 carry a book into the fields, but not a logical one. 

 How can a book, even one of outdoor topics, 

 compete with Nature ? Certainly if Nature is to 

 the reader but a convenient room, a lighter and 

 more airy one than any at home, does it not sig- 

 nify a serious lack in the mind of that person ? 



