PART I 



THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF ANIMALS 



CHAPTER I 



THE WEALTH OF LIFE 



I. Variety of Life — 2. Haunts of Life — 3. Wealth of Form — 

 4. Wealth of Numbers — 5. Wealth of Beauty 



The first steps towards an appreciation of animal life must 

 be taken by the' student himself, for no book-lore can take 

 the place of actual observation. The student must wash 

 the quartz and dig for the diamonds, though a book may 

 help him to find these, and thereafter to fashion them into 

 a treasure. 



Happily, however, the raw material of observation is not 

 rare like gold or diamonds, but near to us as sunshine and 

 rain-drops. Within a few hours' walk of even the largest 

 of our towns the country is open and the animals are at 

 home. Though we may not be able to see " the buzzard 

 homing herself in the sky, the snake sliding through 

 creepers and logs, the elk taking to the inner passes of 

 the woods, or the razor-billed auk sailing far north to 

 Labrador," we can watch our own delightful birds building 

 their "homes without hands," we can study the frogs from 

 the time that they trumpet in the early spring till they or 

 their offspring seek winter quarters in the mud, we can 

 follow the bees and detect their adroit burglary of the 



")W 



