Preface 
see the despised Razor-back in a more friendly 
light when they realize the strong and wise little 
soul that lurks behind those blinking eyes. 
The Wild Geese is a simple narrative of well- 
known facts, facts that I observed among the 
Honkers in my own home park. 
Jinney, the bad monkey, I never saw, but I 
have told her story as it was given to me by my 
old friend Louis Ohnimus, at one time Director 
of the Woodward Zodlogical Gardens in San 
Francisco, California. 
Billy and Coaly-Bay are in the main true, and 
a recent letter from the West gives me new light 
on the history of the wild horse. The story had 
just appeared in Collier’s Magazine, where the 
writer saw it. 
The letter runs as follows: 
“January 26,1916. I, too, knew Coaly-Bay, the 
glorious creature. He began his struggles in the 
Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho, left through the 
Salmon River country straggling tales of his 
fierce resentment under the yoke, and escaped 
triumphantly at last to the plains in the south. 
“T was sixteen then and it is six years ago. 
“Something, however, you failed to record. It 
is this: that before he escaped from the world of 
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