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INTRODUCTION TO ANIMALS. 



Aside from what has already been described there 

 are many other creatures which we see, when on our 

 daily rambles, the chief of which are animals. With- 

 out undertaking to do justice to the subject or describ- 

 ing many of their species, I will mention a few of those 

 common in our own land. 



The animal kingdom is very large and varied and 

 comprises many species. Some of them are tame and 

 docile, while others are wild, savage and ferocious. 

 Some feed upon vegetable food, others upon animal. 

 Even man sometimes falls a victim to some of the 

 large carniverous (flesh eating) species. Many of our 

 animals are useful in furnishing fine furs such as are 

 used in the manufacture of costly fur goods, among 

 which rank the beaver, seal, otter, martin, mink, sable 

 and others. The collecting of these furs was a chief 

 employment and source of profit to the Indians. In 

 the time of early settlement these natives, when they 

 were sure of the white man^s honesty, would trade 

 their furs to them for other articles v»^hich they 

 wanted. The names which the Indians gave some of 

 our animals are very interesting, and many of our 

 rivers and lakes still bear the names which the red man 

 gave them before the white man ever set foot upon 

 American soil. Many are the stories told and left on 

 record by the hunters of these wild denizens of the for- 

 est. Some of these are romantic and beautiful, others 

 thrilling and perilous. The best furs are procured in 

 the northern and western United States. 



