Copyright, 1908,
BY

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

Published June, 1908

ROBERT DRUMMOND COMPANY, PRINTERS, NEW YORK

TO
DOROTHY S., ANNA F., AND MARY L.
WHO ARE MARY


PREFATORY NOTE

In these days many strange, true stories about animals are being written and read, but it seems to me that some of our most intimate and interesting animal companions are being overlooked. So I have tried to write about a few of them. These stories are true. I know this, for Mary and I have really seen almost everything I have told; and they seem to us strange. If there have slipped into the stories occasional slight attempts to show some reason for the strange things or to point an unobtrusive moral, it is because the teacher's habit has overcome the story-teller's intention. So the slips may be pardoned.