PREFACE. 



THE following studies were conducted during leisure 

 hours snatched from other and more pressing avoca- 

 tions, and have been subject to the frequent interruptions 

 which fall to the lot of the observer who is prevented from 

 devoting continuous attention to his work. This may in some 

 measure explain any want of cohesion and strict systematic 

 arrangement that may be apparent in the method of treating 

 the subjects dealt with, whilst my short residence in New 

 Brunswick disqualifies me from writing an exhaustive treatise 

 on its natural history. Nevertheless I hope, as one of the first 

 attempts towards elucidating the natural history of an im- 

 portant and interesting portion of the Canadian Dominion, 

 that my little volume may receive some favour, more 

 especially on the other side of the Atlantic, where cultivators 

 of this branch of learning have not, until of late years, been 

 by any means numerous. Indeed, considering the inviting 

 fields presented by the New World, it appears surprising 

 how little has been accomplished in what naturalists call 

 Field Studies ; for although almost every animal and many 

 of the plants and rocks have been named and described, 

 very little is known of their geographical distribution, which 

 has elsewhere been ascertained by compounding the labours 

 of local and independent observers. The explanation of 



