PREFACE. V 



in the way I have just described ; but in the forest it 

 unquestionably depends upon the skillful movements 

 and quiet demeanor of the observer that he can see 

 vnthout being seen. The wild animals never become 

 familiar to one who is heedless and impatient. The 

 waggle of a leaf or the snapping of a twig sends the 

 timid burrower to the depths of his hole, and it 

 requires more than the patience of Job to await his 

 reappearance. It is necessary to count time by 

 heart-throbs rather than seconds when one enters 

 the woodland; indeed, it is possibly better to take 

 no account of it at all, but lavish it generously upon 

 chances. Perhaps such an apparent waste of time 

 would be called loafing; if so, then Thoreau was a 

 magnificent loafer. But loafers do not bequeath to us 

 a world of woodland knowledge such as Thoreau did. 

 We are at fault because we do not enter the 

 wood and do a little thinking on our own account. 

 Perhaps if we did we would discover that the deer, 

 the marten, the loon, and the bear were not half so 

 uncommon as we thought they were. Nor can we 

 rely wholly upon what the books say. Audubon, 

 "Wilson, Eymer Jones, and Elliott Coues are all well 

 enough in their way, but they smack somewhat of 

 ancient history. The development of natural history 

 in this country is of very recent date ; one naturalist 

 has informed me that up to about ten years ago one 



