PREFACE. 



Many years ago, when I began my studies in Nat- 

 ure's open book, I had no thought of ever giving them 

 to the public ; but I soon became deeply interested, and 

 found so many things new to me, and some new to sci- 

 ence, that my correspondents, especially those engaged 

 in similar pursuits, urged me to publish the result of 

 these observations. Some of them were printed in 

 scientific journals, but as the interest deepened, the 

 wish came to tell a greater number of readers what I 

 saw around me, and I therefore sent notes of my in- 

 vestigations to some of our popular periodicals, mostly 

 to Harper's Magazine, and this volume is mainly com- 

 posed of these papers. 



" Our Winter Birds " and " Under the Maples " were 

 published in the Atlantic Monthly; the first chapter on 

 " Utricularia " appeared in the New York Tribune, and 

 the chapter on " Drosera " in the American Naturalist, 

 the remainder in Harper's Magazine. 



If a perusal of this volume gives my readers a tithe 



