PREFACE 
In the original preface to “ Northern Trails ” the author stated 
that, with the solitary exception of the salmon's life in the sea 
after he vanishes from human sight, every incident recorded here 
is founded squarely upon personal and accurate observation of 
animal life and habits. I now repeat and emphasize that state¬ 
ment. Even when the observations are, for the reader’s sake, 
put into the form of a connected story, there is not one trait 
or habit mentioned which is not true to animal life. 
Such a statement ought to be enough, especially as I have 
repeatedly furnished evidence from reliable eye-witnesses to sup¬ 
port every observation that the critics have challenged ; but of 
late a strenuous public attack has been made upon the wolf story 
in this volume by two men claiming to speak with authority. 
They take radical exception to my record of a big white wolf 
killing a young caribou by snapping at the chest and heart. 
They declared this method of killing to be “ a mathematical im¬ 
possibility ” and, by inference, a gross falsehood, utterly ruinous 
to true ideas of wolves and of natural history. 
As no facts or proofs are given to support this charge, the 
first thing which a sensible man naturally does is to examine the 
fitness of the critics, in order to ascertain upon what knowledge 
or experience they base their dogmatic statements. One of these 
critics is a man who has no personal knowledge of wolves or cari¬ 
bou, who asserts that the animal has no possibility of reason or 
intelligence, and who has for years publicly denied the observa¬ 
tions of other men which tend to disprove his ancient theory. It 
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