THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY. 



211 



DISTRIBUTION 



ing up this great in- 

 stitution, the Direc- 

 tor thereof could 

 find time and could 

 endure the labor of 

 writing and prepar- 

 ing the greatest nat- 

 ural history book 

 ever written ; but 

 W. T. Hornaday was 

 equal to the task. 



He began work on 

 this book 3 years 

 ago, and it has but 

 recently come from 

 the press. In reality 

 it represents the 

 careful and accu- 

 rate observations of 

 a lifetime, boiled 

 down to the limits 

 of one large vol- 

 ume. 



He has covered 

 the subject as com- 

 pletely as the limi- 

 tations of available 

 space would allow, 

 and while more 

 might have been 

 said of some of the 



species, the work could not have been more 

 detailed without making 2 volumes and 

 doubling the cost. Every naturalist knows 

 that it is easy to talk or to write indefinite- 

 ly of any important wild animal or bird, 

 but few such men know where to stop. Mr. 

 Hornaday not only knows where to begin, 

 and what to say on each subject, but he 

 knows when he has told all that the aver- 

 age reader cares to know. Furthermore, he 

 knows how to give all necessary informa- 

 tion in the fewest possible words, and when 

 the student reads what is said in this book, 

 of any particular species, he feels that he 

 is personally acquainted with it. 



Naturally a man who knows so many 

 things worth knowing about birds and 

 animals, and who knows how to dissect, or 

 skeletonize, or mount a specimen, would 

 also know how to illustrate a book of this 

 kind. Consequently Mr. Hornaday selected 

 the best artists in the world for his pur- 

 pose. The names of Carl Rungius, J. Car- 

 ter Beard, C. B. Hudson and E. J. Sawyer 

 appearing frequently in this great work 

 are of themselves a sufficient guarantee that 

 the drawings are technically correct ; yet, 

 in the making of these drawings, Mr. Hor- 

 naday has greatly aided the artists by care- 

 ful directions and criticisms. 



Mr Hornaday also appreciates the value 

 of the camera in portraying nature, and 

 more than 100 beautiful photographs have 

 been reproduced in the book. Altogether 

 the volume contains 343 illustrations, and 

 the pictorial part of the work is equally 



COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY W. T HORNADAY- 



OF THE PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE, 

 As far as known in 1903. 



complete and exhaustive with the text. 



Another valuable feature of the book is 

 a series of maps showing the distribution 

 of certain species. Then the book is so 

 completely indexed that it is the work of 

 only a few minutes to locate the description 

 and the picture of any species of which the 

 student may seek information. This book 

 should be in every home, in every school, 

 library, ranch and camp in America, for it 

 is a practical, common sense book for alL 

 I hear that both publishers and author have 

 made a great effort to keep down the price 

 of this splendid volume to a figure so mod- 

 erate ($3.50 net, expressage extra), that no 

 one need be without it. It is the finest book 

 at the price ever put on the market, and 

 might well have been sold at $5. 



As showing more fully the plan laid down 

 and followed by the author I quote from 

 his preface : 



"By natural inclination, every child is in- 

 terested in animals. Whenever a grown 

 person is not interested, it is positive proof 

 that the natural instincts of childhood 

 either have been turned aside, or stifled by 

 lack of opportunity to live and grow. The 

 love for animals is, I believe, even more 

 universal than the love for music. 



"Whenever I try to sum up the amount 

 of living interest and genuine delight that 

 is yielded by even a modest acquain- 

 tance with the higher forms of life, 'I 

 would that my tongue could utter the 

 thoughts that arise in me !' It seems a 

 pity that so many appreciative persons 



