Frontispiece

In the fifty-two short essays of this volume Ihave presented familiar objects from unusualpoints of view. Bird’s-eye glances and insect’s-eyeglances, at the nature of our woods and fields,will reveal beauties which are wholly invisiblefrom the usual human view-point, five feet ormore above the ground.

Who follows the lines must expect to findmoods as varying as the seasons; to face stormand night and cold, and all other delights of whatwildness still remains to us upon the earth.

Emphasis has been laid upon the weak pointsin our knowledge of things about us, and theprincipal desire of the author is to inspire enthusiasmin those whose eyes are just opening tothe wild beauties of God’s out-of-doors, to gatherup and follow to the end some of these frayed-outthreads of mystery.

Portions of the text have been published atvarious times in the pages of “Outing,” “Recreation,”“The Golden Age,” “The New YorkEvening Post,” and “The New York Tribune.”