THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY. 



209 



Europe from one end to the other, yet 

 their lack of knowledge of the fauna of 

 their- own country is simply deplorable. 



If our schools were properly conducted 

 and carried on, any boy or girl of 15, would 

 know more than the average man or woman 

 to-day, about our native American wild 

 animals and birds ; but the education of 

 the youth of this country along these lines 

 has been universally neglected because the 

 people who constitute our boards of edu- 

 cation are themselves ignorant of these 

 creatures, and there has been no "best Nat- 



published by Charles Scribner's Sons, of 

 New York. 



No man living is better equipped for such 

 a task than the author of this book is. He 

 grew up on an Iowa farm, surrounded by 

 wild life, and has been, from childhood, an 

 earnest and eager student of our fauna. He 

 was educated as a zoologist, he served an 

 apprenticeship in the largest natural his- 

 tory laboratory in the world, and became 

 an expert zoological collector and taxiderm- 

 ist. That institution sent him abroad to 

 study and collect specimens in various parts 



DRAWN BY E J, SAWDER, 



THE AMERICAN MAGPIE. 



COPYRIGHT, 1904, EY W. T. HORNADAY. 



ural History" from which to learn. For 

 15 years, at least, teachers and pupils alike 

 have been asking, "What is the best Natural 

 History" of our own wild animals?" 



At last this question has been answered. 

 There has been written and published a 

 book that will provide not only the young 

 but the old, with adequate and accurate in- 

 formation regarding the principal beasts, 

 birds and fishes of this continent. Hereaf- 

 ter there will be no excuse for anyone to 

 remain ignorant of the general characteris- 

 tics of these wild creatures, and their classi- 

 fication. 



I refer to "The American Natural His- 

 tory," written by W. T. Hornaday, and 



of the world, and he served in that capa- 

 city many years. Later he was employed 

 for 8 years by the United States Govern- 

 ment, on the staff of the National Museum, 

 in Washington. 



When the New York Zoological Society 

 was formed, and a search made for the best 

 man to create a great zoological park in the 

 metropolis, the choice naturally fell on 

 W. T. Hornaday. As a result, New York 

 has now the greatest zoological park in 

 the world, and yet it is not finished. The 

 plans of the Society include a course of 

 several years more of building and col- 

 lecting specimens from the entire world. 



It is simply marvelous that while bur- 

 dened with the duties of planning and build- 



