VOLUME V

NEW YORK THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INC. _Publishers_

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INC.

PARTIAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS, ASSISTANT EDITORS AND ADVISERS

HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE _Editor_

EDWARD EVERETT HALE _Associate Editor_

NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, President Columbia University.

WILLIAM R. HARPER, Late President Chicago University.

HON. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Ex-President of the United States.

HON. GROVER CLEVELAND, Late President of the United States.

JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS, American Roman Catholic prelate.

ROBERT C. OGDEN, Partner of John Wanamaker.

HON. GEORGE F. HOAR, Late Senator from Massachusetts.

EDWARD W. BOK, Editor "Ladies' Home Journal."

HENRY VAN DYKE, Author, Poet, and Professor of English Literature, Princeton University.

LYMAN ABBOTT, Author, Editor of "The Outlook."

CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, Writer of Animal Stories.

JACOB A. RIIS, Author and Journalist.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, Jr., English Professor at Union College.

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, Late Author and Creator of "Uncle Remus."

GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON, Novelist and Journalist.

RAY STANNARD BAKER, Author and Journalist.

WILLIAM BLAIKIE, Author of "How to Get Strong and How to Stay So."

WILLIAM DAVENPORT HULBERT, Writer of Animal Stories.

JOSEPH JACOBS, Folklore Writer and Editor of the "Jewish Encyclopedia."

MRS. VIRGINIA TERHUNE ("Marion Harland"), Author of "Common Sense in the Household," etc.

MARGARET E. SANGSTER, Author of "The Art of Home-Making," etc.

SARAH K. BOLTON, Biographical Writer.

ELLEN VELVIN, Writer of Animal Stories.

REV. THEODORE WOOD, F. E. S., Writer on Natural History.

W. J. BALTZELL, Editor of "The Musician."

HERBERT T. WADE, Editor and Writer on Physics.

JOHN H. CLIFFORD, Editor and Writer.

ERNEST INGERSOLL, Naturalist and Author.

DANIEL E. WHEELER, Editor and Writer.

IDA PRENTICE WHITCOMB, Author of "Young People's Story of Music," "Heroes of History," etc.

MARK HAMBOURG, Pianist and Composer.

MME. BLANCHE MARCHESI, Opera Singer and Teacher.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction xi

CHAPTER

I Apes and Gibbons 1

II Baboons 7

III The American Monkeys and the Lemurs 16

IV The Bats 26

V The Insect-Eaters 33

VI The Larger Cats 47

VII The Smaller Cats 60

VIII The Civets, the Aard-Wolf, and the Hyenas 68

IX The Dog Tribe 78

X The Weasel Tribe 91

XI The Bear Tribe 102

XII The Seal Tribe 113

XIII The Whale Tribe 121

XIV The Rodent Animals 136

XV The Wild Oxen 157

XVI Giraffes, Deer, Camels, Zebras, Asses, and Horses 179

XVII The Elephants, Rhinoceroses, Hippopotamuses, and Wild Swine 201

XVIII Edentates, or Toothless Mammals 212

XIX The Marsupials 218

XX Birds of Prey 232

XXI Cuckoos, Nightjars, Humming-Birds, Woodpeckers, and Toucans 243

XXII Crows, Birds of Paradise, and Finches 254

XXIII Wagtails, Shrikes, Thrushes, etc. 263

XXIV Parrots, Pigeons, Pea-Fowl, Pheasants, etc. 273

XXV Ostriches, Herons, Cranes, Ibises, etc. 281

XXVI Swimming Birds 291

XXVII Tortoises, Turtles, and Lizards 299

XXVIII Snakes 311

XXIX Amphibians 321

XXX Fresh-water Fishes 326

XXXI Salt-water Fishes 337

XXXII Insects 354

XXXIII Insects (_continued_) 369

XXXIV Spiders and Scorpions 387

XXXV Crustaceans 397

XXXVI Sea-Urchins, Starfishes, and Sea-Cucumbers 409

XXXVII Mollusks 414

XXXVIII Annelids and Coelenterates 427

Walks with a Naturalist 437

Nature-study at the Seaside 457

Our Wicked Waste of Life 487

INDEX 497

(_Much of the material in this volume is published by permission of E. P. Dutton & Company, New York City, owners of American rights._)

ILLUSTRATIONS

TROPICAL AMERICAN HUMMING-BIRDS _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

TYPES OF APES AND MONKEYS 6

PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS OF MONKEYS 16

FOUR GREAT CATS 48

SOME FIERCE CATS 64

A WOLFISH GROUP 80

TYPES OF FUR-BEARERS 96

TYPES OF BEARS 128

TYPES OF RODENTS 144

FOUR TYPES OF CATTLE 156

WILD SHEEP AND GOATS 164

GOATS AND GOAT-ANTELOPES 166

TYPES OF ANTELOPES 176

THE ANTLERED DEER 184

CHILDREN'S PETS AT THE ZOO 189

WILD RELATIVES OF THE HORSE 196

PACHYDERMS AND TAPIR 206

TYPES OF MARSUPIALS 220

TYPICAL BIRDS OF PREY 232

FOUR HANDSOME BIRDS 253

FINCHES AND WEAVER-BIRDS 262

AMERICAN INSECT-EATING SONG-BIRDS 272

GAUDY TROPICAL BIRDS 276

AMERICAN GAME-BIRDS 280

FOUR GREAT GAME-BIRDS 280

AMERICAN WADING BIRDS 298

TYPES OF WATER-BIRDS 298

CHARACTERISTIC FORMS AND MARKINGS OF AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS 298

NORTH AMERICAN FOOD AND GAME FISHES 336

INSECTS INJURIOUS TO AMERICAN MAPLE-TREES 368

LEAF-EATING INSECTS OF SHADE-TREES 386

LIFE ON THE SEA-BOTTOM 413

NORTH AMERICAN SEED-EATING SONG-BIRDS 442

CHICKADEE AND WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH 456

INTRODUCTION

This volume is a sketch of the animal life of the whole world. More than a sketch it could not be in the space at the author's command; but he has so skilfully selected his examples to illustrate both the natural groups and the faunas which they represent, that his work forms a most commendable ground-plan for the study of natural history.

Few writers have been so successful in handling this subject. His style is singularly attractive to the young readers whom he has in view; yet he does not depart from accuracy, nor exaggerate with false emphasis some unusual phase of an animal's character, which is the fault of many who try to "popularize" zoölogy.

One may feel confident, therefore, that the boy or girl who opens this volume will enjoy it and profit by it. The sketch dwells on the animals most often to be seen in nature, or in menageries, or read of in books of travel and adventure, and will thus serve as a valuable reference aid in such reading. But it will, and ought to, do more. It will arouse anew that interest in the creatures about us which is as natural as breath to every youngster, but is too rarely fostered by parents and teachers.

Nothing is more valuable in the foundation of an education than the faculty and habit of observation--the power of noting understandingly, or at least inquiringly, what happens within our sight and hearing. To go about with one's eyes half shut, content to see the curtain and never curious to look at the play on nature's stage behind it, is to miss a very large part of the possible pleasure in life. That his child should not suffer this loss ought to be the concern of every parent.

Little more than encouragement and some opportunity is needed to preserve and cultivate this disposition and faculty. Direct a youngster's attention to some common fact of woodland life new to him, and his interest and imagination will be excited to learn more. Give him a hint of the relationship of this fact to other facts, and you have started him on a scientific search, and he has begun to train his eye and his mind without knowing it. At this point such books as this are extremely helpful, and lead to a desire for the more special treatises which happily are now everywhere accessible.

This suggestion is not made with the idea that every youngster is to become a full-fledged naturalist; but with the sense that some knowledge of nature will be a source of delight throughout life; and with the certainty that in no direction can quickness of eye and accuracy of sight and reasoning be so well and easily acquired. These are qualities which make for success in all lines of human activity, and therefore are to be regarded as among the most important to be acquired early in life.

The physical benefit of an interest in animal life, which leads to outdoor exercise, needs no argument. The mental value has been touched upon. The moral importance is in the sense of truth which nature inculcates, and the kindliness sure to follow the affectionate interest with which the young naturalist must regard all living things.

No matter what is to be their walk in life, the observing study of nature should be regarded as the corner-stone of a boy's or girl's education.

ERNEST INGERSOLL

MAMMALS