PREFACE. xi 



I have no excuse for these imperfect records of 

 my own experience with wild animals except the one 

 that I have Uved long enough among them to respect 

 their rights of life and speak a good word for them 

 when occasion offers. There is only one creature I 

 know of who seems to be a thoroughly ugly char- 

 acter, afflicted with a most uncontrollable and vicious 

 temper — that is, the Injun Devil, or wild cat {Lynx 

 canadensis). Fortunately, he rarely appears this side 

 of the Canadian border; when he does, the hunter 

 gives him no peace, for there is no peace where he 

 exists. 



I wish to add, that without the valuable assistance 

 of Prof. Samuel Garman, Mr. Outram Bangs, and 

 Mr. Samuel Henshaw, which I most gratefully ac- 

 knowledge, I never would have been able to gather 

 together the latest scientific facts regarding the ani- 

 mals. Also, the book would have lost much without 

 Mr. W. Lyman Underwood's contribution of photo- 

 graphs from Nature. But the fact is, two heads are 

 always better than one ; and consequently the book, 

 which is not the selfish outcome of one man's 

 thoughts, escapes at least one fault— it is not one- 

 sided. ,, 



F. Schuyler Mathews. 



El Fukeidis, Blair, Campion, N. H., 

 May, 1898. 



