List of Illustrations

PAGE
Bird Dogs "Pointing" Partridges[16]
Fox Cubs at Mouth of Den[18]
Beagle Hound Chasing a Rat[21]
Scottish Shepherd Dog Gathering His Flock[23]
The St. Bernard Dog and His Friends[25]
A Funny Quartette of Pekingese Puppies[28]
Hounds Overtaking a Fox[32]
The Dog Guardian. "Can You Talk"[35]
A Dog Team Hauling Milk in Antwerp[37]
Deerhound, Rossie Ralph[40]
The Mother Cat and Her Playful Brood[42]
The Canada Lynx, the House Cat's "Cousin"[45]
Ready for Business[47]
The Hungry Babes and Playful Kitten[51]
Rabbits near Their Burrow[55]
The Otter, One of Nature's Fishers[57]
A Guinea-Pig. Pig Only by Name, not by Nature[58]
Friends and Comrades[62]
Rosa Bonheur's Famous Picture of the Horse Fair[64]
Pure Bred Clydesdale Draft Horse[68]
A Roman Chariot Race[70]
Thoroughbred Racing Horse[72]
Virginia Deer[74]
A Logging Team with a Heavy Load[76]
The Famous Arab Steeds and Desert Riders[80]
A Pair of Prize Mules[86]
Mexican Donkey Waiting for the Last Straw[87]
The Striped Zebra of Africa[89]
The Native Ox Cart of Delhi, India[93]
Hauling Sugar Cane in Puerto Rico[95]
The White Yak of the Asiatic Mountains[96]
The American Bison alone on the Prairie[97]
Cultivating Rice Field with the Chinese Ox. Hawaii[98]
The Carabao[100]
Herd of Reindeer[102]
A Sahara Desert Scene[104]
A Rug Laden Caravan[107]
Camel Hauling Water[109]
Yaks Picketed near Camp in India[110]
A Llama Train Descending the Mountains of Peru[112]
Dog Train Hauling Provision in Northern Canada[114]
Alaskan Dog Team—The Winter Mail Carriers[116]
Elephant Piling Lumber[120]
A Military Elephant on Duty. India[122]
A State Elephant of India with Howdah[130]
Making Friends with a Guernsey Calf[134]
Back to the Pasture After the Milking[138]
The Holstein Cow, a Great Milk Giver[140]
Ox Team and Native Cart, with Wooden Wheels[142]
An Ox-Team on a Florida Plantation[145]
Carting Manila Hemp. Philippine Islands[147]
Moose in Harness[148]
Cattle and Sheep of the Scottish Highlands[152]
The Merino Ram, the Great Wool Bearer[155]
The Alpine Ibex[160]
Milk Goats in the Alps[162]
A Pair of Angora Goats[164]
The Wart Hog[167]
A Fat Berkshire Hog[170]
The Razor-back Hog of the South[173]
Animals of the Farm and Poultry Yard[174]
Feeding the Chickens in the Farm-yard[177]
English Dorking Cock and Hen[181]
Willie and His Pet Ducks[187]
An Assault by Hungry Geese[190]
Gander Hissing at an Enemy[192]
Driving Turkeys to Market[197]
The Black Swan of Australia[201]
The Graceful White Swan Swimming[203]
The Peacock, the Most Gorgeous of Home Birds[205]
Pigeon Types. Carrier and Short Faced Tumbler[212]
On a California Ostrich Farm[215]
The Mocking Bird[223]
The White-Faced Parrot[231]
A Gray Parrot on His Perch[235]
The Starling[242]
Feeding Monkeys at the Zoölogical Garden[252]
A Pair of Midget Donkeys[258]
The Orang Outang in the Hands of His Keeper[265]
An Afternoon Chat[276]
The Fantail[287]
Hindu Snake Charmers with the Deadly Cobras[294]
The Mongoose[298]
The Common Hedgehog with His Battery of Spines[303]
The Three-banded Armadillo[305]
A Friendly Gray Squirrel[307]
A Hooded Peregrine Falcon[310]
Leg and Foot of Falcon Showing Fastening[314]
Grizzly Bear Cub[320]
The Harp-seal Afloat on the Ice[324]
The Savage Florida Alligator[326]
The Stork in Its Feeding Grounds[329]
The Cormorant, the Fishing Bird of China[331]
The Albatross Swooping Over the Ocean Waves[333]
An Opened Bee Hive Showing the Clustering Bees[336]

Home Life in All Lands

I
HOUSEHOLD PETS AND COMRADES

How few of us can go into the house without their coming to meet us: the frisky dog, with its wagging tail; the sleek and soft-footed cat, with its mellow purr. On her swinging perch sits mistress parrot, greeting us with her noisy "Polly wants a cracker." In its gilded cage flirts the golden-hued canary, singing loudly to bid us welcome. They give life and joy to the most rustic home, these pets of the household, our glad though humble friends and guests.

If we go out of the house into the stable-yard or the pasture-field we meet others of them: the noble horse, the patient and docile cow, the woolly sheep, the sturdy goat. In the poultry-yard still others meet us: the cackling hen, proud of her new-laid egg; the crowing rooster, the quacking duck, the gracefully swimming goose or swan, the peacock with its splendid tail, even the buzzing bee, flying home laden with wax and honey.

If all our human friends should desert us, the dog would cling to us still. Carlo's faith and trust were true in all the ills of life. The ragged beggar finds a loving friend in his dog. Roger the dog may be as ragged and forlorn as tramping Joe, his master; he may be a shabby mongrel of the worst breed, but a true heart beats under his rusty hide, and he will love and follow his rambling master through thick and thin.

It is the same with our petted horse, which greets us with a glad neigh and loves to kiss our hand or face with its soft muzzle. Almost any animal that we make a pet of will repay us with its love and trust, though least of all the cat, which has kept half wild through centuries of taming. But of course we cannot say this of all cats; we must give Tabby credit for some of the spirit of affection under her smooth fur, though as a rule she loves places more than she does persons and is apt to be the most independent member of the household.

If we go abroad into the wilds and woods, what shall we find there? Living creatures still, multitudes of them, but all ready to flee or fly from man. They fear him and do not trust him. If strong and fierce enough they will rush upon him instead of from him and try to kill this two-legged creature who so often tries to kill them.

But look closer and you will find that many of these wild animals are near relatives of those that man has tamed. The fierce wolf and cunning fox are cousins of the trusty dog; the terrible lion and tiger belong to the same family as the cat we fondle in our laps; the zebra which no man can tame is not far away in family tree from the faithful horse. Very many more of these animals might have been tamed if man had cared to do so. But he picked out those that pleased him most or that he could make the best use of and left the others to their wild ways.

Now you may see what we are here to talk about. It is our purpose to set out on a home journey, one that starts from the kitchen or the parlor of the house and goes no farther than the outer fence of the farm—if we are lucky enough to have a farm. We are not making this home trip to call on anybody like ourselves. We are setting out to visit the cattle and sheep in their pasture-fields, the horses in their stalls, the poultry in their yards, the pig in his pen, and have a quiet talk about what we find there. And at the same time we must have our say about the dog that follows us in our round, and seems to fancy himself one of ourselves rather than one of those we are proposing to call upon. He thinks himself "folks," does master doggy. Let us take him at his own measure and deal with him first, of all.