PREFACE. 
A few words are necessary explanatory of the coarse 
pursued in the following work, as regards the citation of 
authorities. 
All the facts recorded without reference to authori¬ 
ties, are the result either of personal observation or of 
diligent study, which, from the length of time that has 
intervened, have become so blended in my mind that 
I can no longer separate their sources. I may, how¬ 
ever, state that observation has, certainly, as often anti¬ 
cipated the perusal of the discoveries of others, as their 
record has stimulated direct observation to confirm 
them. 
The habits of animals, in which instinct is the sole 
prompter, are so uniform, that these, once well observed, 
may be considered as permanently established. The 
slight deviations that have been occasionally noticed, al¬ 
though temporarily infringing, do not abrogate the in¬ 
flexibility of the law which regulates this faculty ; and 
