vi 
PEEFACE. 
songs of free-winged birds, rather than the sounds of such dreary cas- 
tanets ! If in his mellow gayety he should presume to transcend all 
limits of " rule and precedent," let the old leather-winged Chiroptera 
of dusky cabinets blink their round eyes and stare away — who 
cares ? — not the Hunter-Naturahst — for sure — since he is happy in his 
singing — hopeful that others may be made happy too ! 
If in this dreary year, when earth is filled with wars and rumors of 
wars, and the air with portents and with pestilence, if the Hunter- 
Naturalist shall have won a single stricken heart and hopeless soul 
back to more cheerful views of life, it will be ample compensation for 
him to reflect that the dull Demon of Despair had been conquered — 
as the old Prussian general, when beaten out of Italy, complained, 
" contrary to all military precedent !" 
But let the book tell its own story. This is certainly what I have 
left the five elegant plates, by Alfred J. Miller, of Baltimore, to do for 
themselves. It is sufficient for me to state, that the four in wdiich 
Indians appear, are scenes in a camp of Delawares. They are so full 
of a character in keeping with the prominent topics of the present 
volume, as to render any text explanation of them useless at present. 
This is of the less importance now^, as I propose to furnish among the 
Wild Scenes of a future and independent volume of this series, a full 
history of this noblest of the remaining Indian tribes of the continent. 
In the fifteen plates of birds and flowers, by my wife, she has sim- 
ply endeavored to illustrate her own views of " Woman's Rights" in 
the earnest eff'ort to achieve something individually in the two depart- 
ments of art, which seem most congenial and proper to feminine ambi- 
tion, namely, bird and flower painting, with their cognate associations 
of the ornate, the graceful and the beautiful ! 
For the execution of my plates, in so short a time as has been 
allowed, I must express my gratitude to the Brothers Rosenthall, 
Philadelphia. The younger brother, M. Rosenthall, has distinguished 
himself by his zeal and skill as a young artist, under the accom- 
