PREFACE 



My Story, "The Life of a Fossil Hunter," pub- 

 lished by Henry Holt & Co., New York,, 1900, 

 met with such a splendid reception that I am 

 tempted to write a second volume, especially as 

 I have since that publication with my three sons 

 met with the most wonderful success among the 

 dinosaurs of the Red Deer river. Alberta, Can- 

 ada. Since 1912 we have been in the employ- 

 ment of the Geological Survey of Canada, col- 

 lecting five car loads of the ancient inhabitants 

 of Alberta. We have found many new genera of 

 the duckbilled dinosaurs, those wonderful swim- 

 mers of the old lakes and bayous of the Cre 

 taceous period, three new genera of horned di- 

 nosaurs, learning more about them than was ever 

 known before, finding that instead of being cov- 

 ered with bony plates as has been supposed they 

 had thin skins with small scales like mosaic 

 work; then, stranger still, the huge plated dino- 

 saurs completely enveloped in an armor of bony 

 plates, some large, and others small like chained 

 armor, allowing motion to the body. In fact, we 

 are building up a great exhibit of these strange 

 creatures of the past. I propose to write in tlie 

 same strain as in my other book, but will take 

 my readers to entirely new scenes ; to the richest 



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