vi PREFACE. 



some profit. I also hope it may be the means of luring a few 

 to the more extended study of a science which is doubtless the 

 most attractive of all sciences and the one that must have an 

 endless charm for those who delight in animated nature, for it 

 presents no view unimportant or uninteresting, no part that will 

 fail to reward diligent research and contemplation. Moreover, it 

 conduces to very different feelings being entertained for animals 

 than can be experienced by those members of the community who 

 knownothing whatever about them; and if a little more knowledge 

 respecting the brute creation were possessed by the public gene- 

 rally it would greatly tend to the diminution of cruelty to animals, 

 both tame and wild, which is a " consummation devoutly to be 

 wished." 



