PREFACE. " ix 
in our language * And yet the desirableness, nay, the necessity of such a work, is 
obvious, but who shall attemx^t to popularize a subject so vast, so boundless? E^o 
one lias entered upon a task so formidable, if not so hopeless. The audacity, or per- 
haps the folly, as it may ^jrove, of attempting to supi^ly this want, seems to have been 
reserved for the author of these pages. 
The immense extent of the subject is not the only, nor indeed the chief difficulty 
with which the compiler has to contend. The popular mind of our day — at least m 
this country— is too far advanced to be content with mere descriptions of isolated spe- 
cies ; all know at least something of classification, and nearly all desire to know more. 
It would neither satisfy the public, nor be doing justice to the oi3portunity, in de- 
scribina: animals, to neglect to show them in their relations to other animals. Every 
beast and bird and reptile and fish has its place in a chain of beings, and neither these 
individuals, nor the Mighty Plan of Creation, can be at all comprehended unless by 
treating each in connection with its atfiliated genera. Classification, therefore— or 
in other words, a Systematic Arrangement — was indispensable ; and inasmuch as all 
systems are expressed in technical terms, a considerable array of Greek and Latin 
words, so frightful to many readers, was inevitable. The scientific writer presumes 
that his readers understand Latin and Glreek as well as their mother tongue. I write 
for a different class, and am bound to presume that they are not familiar with these 
languages. While, therefore, I am compelled to use them, I have sought to mitigate 
the diflaculty by abundant explanations of technical terms. 
Nevertheless, the skeleton of system and classification remains, and I must reconcile 
with this, an abundance of details, descriptions, incidents. To hit upon a just balance 
between these necessities, may demand a nicer judgment than belongs to any man. 
That I have satisfied the requisitions of the scientific naturalist on the one side, and 
of the lovers of narrative, anecdote, and illustration, on the other, is indeed my hope, 
though hardly my expectation. If I am crushed between the two, I shall console 
myself as well as I may with the consciousness that the attempt was worthy of better 
success. 
To these considerations I have little to add. I may be permitted, however, to no- 
tice particularly one principal feature of the work, and that is, the abundance of the 
engravings. It is admitted that pictures are the best describers of the forms of ani- 
mals. A single wood-cut will give a more accurate and indelible impression of the 
personal appearance and aspect of a lion, a girafife, an eagle, or a hippopotamus, than 
whole pages of verbal description. I have known children, born and bred in the city, 
* "It is not to be overlooked," says Agassiz, in the preface to his "Contributions to the Natural History of the 
United States," "that while our scientific libraries are still very defective, there is a class of elementary works 
upon isTatural History widely circulated in Europe, and accompanied with numerous illustrations, which are still 
entirely unknown in this country." * * * * " There has not been published (in the United States) a single 
text-book embracing the whole animal kingdom." 
