Of course I recognize that it is taking great chances nowadays with one's reputation for honesty and truth-telling to write or tell stories about animal behavior. Nature writers seem to be held, as a class, not to be above suspicion. But is a truthful man to be kept silent by criticism or abuse, or, on the other hand, is he to surrender, even for cash, to bad examples? I call out, "No!" and beat on the table as I say this until the pens and paper hop, and Mary asks, "No what?" Which reminds me that I must make some exception to my sweeping declaration of the truth of the whole of this little book. I am not responsible for Mary! She is, bless her, a child of dreams, and sometimes her dreams get into her talk. So some of Mary in this book is fancy; but the beasties and their doings are—I say it again—true, quite true.
V. L. K.
Stanford University, California.
LIST OF STORIES
[A NARROW-WAISTED MOTHER]
[RED AND BLACK AGAINST WHITE]
[THE VENDETTA]
[THE TRUE STORY OF THE PIT OF MORROWBIE JUKES]
[ARGIOPE OF THE SILVER SHIELD]
[THE ORANGE-DWELLERS]
[THE DRAGON OF LAGUNITA]
[A SUMMER INVASION]
[A CLEVER LITTLE BROWN ANT]
[AN HOUR OF LIVING; OR, THE DANCE OF DEATH]
[IN FUZZY'S GLASS HOUSE]
[ANIMATED HONEY-JARS]
[HOUSES OF OAK]
