302 
BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
sion. But in the prefatory note to his latest book, “ The Watch- 
ers of the Trails,” he uses language which must lead the reader 
to believe that he possesses a thorough personal knowledge of thc- 
animals, based upon long and careful study of them in their 
native haunts. Yet those who know Mr. Roberts are aware that 
the requirements of his literal*}' work for several years past have- 
not permitted him to make those journeys into wild New Bruns- 
wick essential to the study of its animal life, and that his few 
earlier trips had not this object in view, and were not of a char- 
acter to permit it. The experiences of his boyhood in the wilder- 
ness about his home, to which he refers in his latest preface, must 
necessarily have been confined to the smaller and commoner forms- 
found near the settlements, and could not have included the 
moose, caribou, bear, lynx, and other great animals about which 
he chiefly writes. His knowledge of these animals must have 
been gained mostly in the public libraries, museums, and men- 
ageries of New York City, and his interpretations of their psy- 
chology, upon which latterly he lays some stress, can have little 
basis other than in his own imagination. In his later works Mr. 
Roberts apparently makes every effort to follow the best authori- 
ties on his animals, thus making a great advance over his- 
earlier writings, which paid scant attention to some of the ele- 
mentary facts of natural history. It is, of course, perfectly 
proper to use the accumulated knowledge of others as a basis- 
for one’s one work, but it is honest to use it in a way to* 
imply, and especially to claim, that it is one’s own? If 
Mr. Roberts would but state in the preface to his books 
that his studies are, for the most part, not based upon personal 
observation of their subjects, but are as accurate as he can make- 
them from other sources of information, he would not only be 
dealing fairly with his readers, but he would, in my opinion, 
greatly enhance, through the added grace of sincerity, the value 
of his really remarkable imaginative works. 
To the unscientific reader it may seem of slight account 
whether a pleasing and powerful writer obtains his knowledge at 
first hand from experience, or takes it from reliable books on the 
subject. As a matter of fact, however, it makes a vast difference 
