THE BURGESS ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN

By Thornton W. Burgess

TO THE CAUSE OF WILD LIFE IN AMERICA, ESPECIALLY THE MAMMALS MANY OF WHICH ARE SERIOUSLY THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE

The cordial reception given the Burgess Bird Book for Children, together with numerous letters to the author asking for information on the habits and characteristics of many of the mammals of America, led to the preparation of this volume. It is offered merely as an introduction to the four-footed friends, little and big, which form so important a part of the wild life of the United States and Canada.

There has been no attempt to describe or classify sub-species. That is for the scientist and student with specific interests. The purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with the larger groups—orders, families, and divisions of the latter, so that typical representatives may be recognized and their habits understood.

Instead of the word mammal, the word animal has been used throughout as having a better defined meaning to the average child. A conscientious effort to avoid technical terms and descriptions has been made that there may be nothing to confuse the young mind. Clarity and simplicity have been the objects kept constantly in view.

At the same time the utmost care to be accurate in the smallest details has been exercised. To this end the works of leading authorities on American mammals have been carefully consulted and compared. No statements which are not confirmed by two or more naturalists of recognized standing have been made.

In this research work the writings of Audubon and Bachman, Dr. E.W. Neson, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Dr. W.T. Hornaday, Ernest Thompson Seton and others, together with the bulletins of the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, have been of the greatest value. I herewith acknowledge my debt to these.

Whatever the text may lack in clearness of description will be amply compensated for by the wonderful drawings in color and black-an-white by Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the artist-naturalist, whose hearty cooperation has been a source of great help to me. These drawings were made especially for this book and add in no small degree to such value as it may possess.

If the reading of these pages shall lead even a few to an active interest in our wild animals, stimulating a desire to preserve and protect a priceless heritage from the past which a heedless present threatens through wanton and reckless waste to deny the future, the labor will have been well worth while.

Only through intimate acquaintance may understanding of the animals in their relations to each other and to man be attained. To serve as a medium for this purpose this book has been written. As such I offer it to the children of America, conscious of its shortcomings yet hopeful that it will prove of some value in acquainting them with their friends and mine—the animals of field and wood, of mountain and desert, in the truest sense the first citizens of America. THORNTON W. BURGESS

CONTENTS

PREFACE

THE BURGESS ANIMAL BOOK FOR CHILDREN

CHAPTER I Jenny Wren Gives Peter Rabbit an Idea

CHAPTER II Peter and Jumper go to School

CHAPTER III More of Peter's Long-Legged Cousins

CHAPTER IV Chatterer and Happy Jack Join

CHAPTER V The Squirrels of the Trees

CHAPTER VI Striped Chipmunk and his Cousins

CHAPTER VII Johnny Chuck Joins the Class

CHAPTER VIII Whistler and Yap Yap

CHAPTER IX Two Queer Little Haymakers

CHAPTER X Prickly Porky and Grubby Gopher

CHAPTER XI A Fellow With a Thousand Spears

CHAPTER XII A Lumberman and Engineer

CHAPTER XIII A Worker and a Robber

CHAPTER XIV A Trader and a Handsome Fellow

CHAPTER XV Two Unlike Little Cousins

CHAPTER XVI Danny's Northern Cousins and Nimbleheels

CHAPTER XVII Three Little Redcoats and Some Others

CHAPTER XVIII Mice with Pockets, and Others

CHAPTER XIX Teeny Weeny and His Cousin

CHAPTER XX Four Busy Little Miners