r that there is urgent need of more "nature
books"--books that are scraped clear of fiction and which display only
the carefully articulated skeleton of fact. Hence this little volume,
presented with some hesitation and more modesty. Various chapters
have, at intervals, appeared in the pages of various publications. The
continued narrative is now published for the first time; and the
writer trusts that it may inspire enthusiasm for natural and
scientific research, and inculcate a passion for accurate observation
among the young.

THE AUTHOR.

_April 1, 1904._

Where the slanting forest eaves,
Shingled tight with greenest leaves,
Sweep the scented meadow-sedge,
Let us snoop along the edge;
Let us pry in hidden nooks,
Laden with our nature books,
Scaring birds with happy cries,
Chloroforming butterflies,
Rooting up each woodland plant,
Pinning beetle, fly, and ant,
So we may identify
What we've ruined, by-and-by.

IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN

I

Because it all seems so improbable--so horribly impossible to me now,
sitting here safe and sane in my own library--I hesitate to record an
episode which already appears to me less horrible than grotesque. Yet,
unless this story is written now, I know I shall never have the
courage to tell the truth about the matter--not from fear of ridicule,
but because I myself shall soon cease to credit what I now know to be
true. Yet scarcely a month has elapsed since I heard the stealthy
purring of what I believed to be the shoaling undertow--scarcely a
month ago, with my own eyes, I saw that which, even now, I am
beginning to believe never existed. As for the harbor-master--and the
blow I am now striking at the old order of things--But of that I shall
not speak now, or later; I shall try to tell the story simply and
truthfully, and let my friends testify as to my probity and the
publishers of this book corroborate them.

On the 29th of February I resigned my position under the government
and left Washington to accept an offer from Professor Farrago--whose
name he kindly permits me to use--and on the first day of April I
entered upon my new and congenial duties as general superintendent of
the water-fowl department connected with the Zoological Gardens then
in course of erection at Bronx Park, New York.

For a week I followed the routine, examining the new foundations,
studying the architect's plans, following