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,
whoese 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
CHAPTER I JENNY WREN GIVES PETER RABBIT AN IDEA
Peter arranges to go to school to Old Mother Nature.
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