Preface- 



why and how they do them : why, for instance, the 

 big Arctic wolf spares the bull caribou that attacks 

 him wantonly; why the wild goose has no fear at 

 home ; why the baby seals are white at birth ; how 

 the salmon climb the falls which they cannot jump, 

 and why they hasten back to the sea when they 

 are hurt ; how the whale speaks without a voice ; 

 and what makes the fisher confuse his trail, or leave 

 beside it a tempting bait for you when you are fol- 

 lowing him, — all these and twenty more curious 

 things are waiting to be seen and understood at the 

 end of the trail. 



The reader who has not followed such trails before 

 will ask at once, How many of these things arc 

 true ? Every smallest incident recorded here is as 

 true as careful and accurate observation can make 

 it. In most of the following chapters, as in all previ- 

 ous volumes, will be found the direct results of my 

 own experience among animals ; and in the few cases 

 where, as stated plainly in the text, I have used 

 the experience of other and wiser men, I have taken 

 the facts from first-hand and accurate observers, 

 and have then sifted them carefully so as to retain 



