A Book of Natural History | Page 2

in Twenty Volumes | | Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Editor-in-Chief |

| | | | | A BOOK OF | | | | NATURAL | | | | HISTORY | | | | | | EDITED
BY | | DAVID STARR JORDAN | | | | VOLUME XIV | | | | [Illustration]
| | | | | | BOSTON | | HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY | |
PUBLISHERS | | |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

CONTENTS
PAGE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES xv BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
THE WONDER OF LIFE 1 BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
LIFE GROWTH;--FROGS 10 BY MARGARET WARNER
MORLEY.
THE MAN-LIKE APES 15 BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
SOME STRANGE NURSERIES 46 BY GRANT ALLEN.
HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER 69 BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
BIRDS' NESTS 88 BY JOHN BURROUGHS.
BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE 121 BY
LAWRENCE BRUNER.
THE SCISSOR BEAK 143 BY CHARLES DARWIN.
THE CONDOR 146 BY CHARLES DARWIN.
THE UMBRELLA BIRD 153 BY SIR A. R. WALLACE.
HUMMING BIRDS 155 BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY 158 BY
MAURICE MAETERLINCK.

WASPS 175 BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
A WASP AND ITS PREY 180 BY G. W. AND E. G. PECKHAM.
LEAF-CUTTING ANTS 190 BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS 197 BY CHARLES DARWIN.
WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST 201 BY ANDREW WILSON.
THE WILD LLAMA 228 BY CHARLES DARWIN.
BATS 232 BY W. S. DALLAS, F.G.S.
HOW SNAKES EAT 258 BY CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.
WHAT WORMS DO 264 BY CHARLES DARWIN.
TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES 284 BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
SEA SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH 292 BY CHARLES DARWIN.
THE COW FISH 295 BY SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE.
OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE 297 BY DAVID STARR
JORDAN.
THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND 303 BY DAVID STARR
JORDAN.
THE COLOR OF ANIMALS 315 BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK BART.
PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS 343 BY E. G.
PECKHAM.
THE BATH OF THE BIRDS 369 BY RICHARD JEFFERIES.
THE LOON 378 BY HENRY D. THOREAU.

THE DARTMOOR PONIES 384 BY ARABELLA R. BUCKLEY.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 396
SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 398
NOTE.
The publishers' acknowledgments are due to Miss Margaret Warner
Morley and Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Co. for permission to use "Life
Growth,--Frogs"; to Mr. W. S. Blatchley and _The Popular Science
Monthly_ for "How Animals Spend the Winter" and "Two Fops
Among the Fishes"; to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for "Birds'
Nests," by John Burroughs; to Mr. L. Bruner and the Nebraska
Ornithologists' Union for "Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture"; to
G. W. and E. G. Peckham for "A Wasp and Its Prey" and "Protective
Resemblances in Spiders"; to President David Starr Jordan and _The
Popular Science Monthly_ for "Old Rattler and the King Snake"; to
President Jordan and A. C. McClurg & Co. for "The Story of a Strange
Land."

LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE THE CONDOR Frontispiece THE GORILLA Face Page 40
THE YELLOW BELLIED WOODPECKER 92 THE UMBRELLA
BIRD 154 THE GUANACO 230 THE VAMPIRE BAT 242 THE
COW FISH 296
AND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO BLACK AND WHITE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES
BY
DAVID STARR JORDAN, LL.D.

This volume is made up from the writings of naturalists who have told
us of the behavior of animals as they have seen it at first hand and of
the beginnings and the growth of life so far as they know about it. In
selecting these from the wealth of available material the editor has been
guided by this rule: The subject matter must be interesting to young
people; it must be told in a clear and attractive style; and most
important of all, it must deal with actualities. We have seen in the last
few years a marked revival of nature studies. This has led to a wider
range of interest in natural phenomena and in the growth and ways of
animals and plants. If this movement is not to be merely a passing fad,
the element of truthfulness must be constantly insisted upon. If a clever
imagination, or worse, sentimental symbolism, be substituted for the
truth of nature, the value of such studies is altogether lost.
The essence of character-building lies in action. The chief value of
nature study in character-building is that, like life itself, it deals with
realities. One must in life make his own observations, frame his own
inductions, and apply them in action as he goes along. The habit of
finding out the best thing to do next and then doing it is the basis of
character. Nature-study, if it be genuine, is essentially doing. To deal
with truth is necessary, if we are to know truth when we see it in action.
The rocks