XVI 



INTRODUCTION 



the experience and the thought that, even if unconsciously, 

 one has been accepted as a part of the surroundings, there 

 is a well-founded satisfaction in realizing that one is making 

 an actual contribution to our knowledge of animal life, not 

 based on the study of creatures in captivity, or of those 

 placed under greater or less restraint by fear, but of ani- 

 mals in their native haunts,-. .living-their. dives under abso- 

 lutely natural conditions. 



The Umbrella Blind near a Fish Hawk's Nest 



The cover is here detachable. In addition to the guys, stones have been 

 placed on the bottom of the cover to help stay the blind in this exposed 

 situation. (Gardiner's Island, June. 1908. The pictures on pages 5(i and 

 57 were made from the blind in this position. I 



