advantage, and thus enabled me to offer much that is perfectly new. * * * * * Dry details of science and classification have been laid aside, but a certain order has been kept to avoid confusion; and, although endeavours have been made to throw as much interest as possible over these recorded habits and actions of the brute creation; I love the latter too well to raise a doubt by one word of embellishment, even if I did not abstain from principle. * * * * * The intentions with which this work was commenced have not been carried out, inasmuch as materials have crowded upon me beyond all calculation; and, although a large portion has been rejected, the anecdotes related go no farther than the Mammalia, while almost all animals were to have been included. * * * * * With regard to the remaining orders--if the present work should meet with a favourable reception, I shall hope next year to present the public with touching and amusing proofs of the sagacity and dispositions of birds, and of "hair-breadth scapes" from reptiles, etc., some of which will, like those in the present volume, be carefully selected from the works of travellers, from the resources of friends, and from my own experience. * * * * * To the pleasing task of enlightening those, who, shut up in close cities, have no opportunity of observing for themselves, and to the still higher enjoyment of directing young minds to an elevating pursuit, the naturalist adds a gratification even better than all, by making known the hidden wonders of nature; and leaving to those who delight in argument, the ever unsolved question of where instinct ends and reason begins, he sets forth the love of the great Creator towards all His creatures, and the ways He takes to show His wisdom. CONTENTS. PAGE MONKEYS, ETC. 1 BATS 33 MOLES 41 HEDGEHOGS 47 BEARS 51 BADGERS 66 WEASELS 73 OTTERS 78 DOGS 83 WOLVES 162 FOXES 174 HYÆNAS 180 LIONS 186 TIGERS 213 LEOPARDS, PANTHERS, ETC. 224 CATS 237 SQUIRRELS 250 RATS 254 MICE 266 ELEPHANTS 271 HIPPOPOTAMUS 294 HOGS 297 RHINOCEROSES 307 HORSES 312 THE ASS 333 CAMELS.--DROMEDARIES 339 LLAMAS, ETC. 344 DEER 347 GIRAFFES 354 ANTELOPES 358 GOATS 363 SHEEP 368 OXEN 373 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. THE QUADRUMANA, OR MONKEY TRIBE. Formed like man, and practicing similar gestures, but with thumbs instead of great toes upon their feet, and with so narrow a heel-bone, that even those who constantly walk upright have not the firm and dignified step of human beings; the Quadrumana yet approximate so closely to us, that they demand the first place in a book devoted principally to the intellectual (whether it be reason or instinct) history of animals. This approximation is a matter of amusement to some; but to the larger portion of mankind, I should say, it is a source of disgust. "Rapoynda," I exclaimed, one day, to a troublesome, inquisitive, restless negro, pointing to a black monkey, which much resembled him in character, "that is your brother." Never shall I forget the malignant scowl which passed over the man's features at my heedless comparison. No apology, no kindness, not even the gift of a smart waistcoat, which he greatly coveted, ever restored me to his good graces; and I was not sorry when his Chief summoned him from my vicinity, for I dreaded his revenge. A few years after, I stood lost in admiration before Sir Edwin Landseer's inimitable picture of "the monkey who had seen the world," in which nature and truth lend...