Prior to the emergence of paleontology and comparative anatomy as scientific disciplines at the end of the 18th century, it was generally known that there were species of animals that had disappeared completely. The term "extinction" originally applied to the extinguishing of fires or erasing of one's debt. It was not until 1784 that the term extinction was used to denote the complete eradication of a species of living being. In 1901, Frederic A. Lucas penned an overview of vertebrate animals whose only evidence of being remained in fossil records. The book focuses primarily on vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals. - Summary by Jeffery Smith

"Birds and Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." - Summary by J. M. Smallheer

In the Jungle Books, Kipling tells 9 wonderful and exciting tales about Mowgli, the human baby raised by a pack of wolves in the jungles of India. His exploits and adventures are many and varied especially his dealing with the other animals such as his wolf mother and father and brother wolves, Baloo the wise bear who teaches him the Law of the Jungle, and in his life long battle with Shere-Kahn, the lame human killing tiger. I have enjoyed these stories so much that I decided to take all 9 of...

Tommy Smith is a wicked little boy, who would harm animals for sport. He would catch them if he could, throw stones if he could not, and generally disturb all animals around him. He became such a nuissance to everyone at last that the animals hold a meeting to discuss what to do. The wise owl has an idea: "Let the next animal that he is going to kill or throw stones at, call out to him, and tell him not to do so. This will surprise him so much that he will be sure to leave off, and then each of us can tell him something about ourselves in turn...

This is the story about Tommy and how he came to better understand the animals around him. Tommy has a favourite stone that he likes to sit upon to think about his day and ponder his troubles. He comes to name this stone the wishing-stone, as it seems to grant his impulsive wishes to become various animals that happen to cross his path while sitting there. Tommy learns first-hand about the exciting life of these animals and gains a new perspective after each exciting adventure. - Summary by SweetHome

Combining beast fable with natural history, this is a highly engaging and informative account of some of the prehistoric mammals that once roamed across North America. Each short story tells us something about a different era of natural history, from the Eocene to the Pleistocene era. Entertaining and easy to understand stories, featuring early ancestors of squirrels, horses, camels, tapirs, elephants, and even manatees, will appeal to people of all ages.

Tarzan's amazing ability to establish kinship with some of the most dangerous animals in the jungle serves him well in this exciting story of his adventures with the Golden Lion, Jad-bal-ja, when the great and lordly animal becomes his ally and protector. Tarzan learns from the High Priestess, La, of a country north of Opar which is held in dread by the Oparians. It is peopled by a strange race of gorilla-men with the intelligence of humans and the strength of gorillas. From time to time they attack Opar, carrying off prisoners for use as slaves in the jewel-studded Temple where they worship a great black-maned lion...

This succinct little textbook from 1844 presents an introduction to herpetology and ichthyology. The information, albeit not current, is still interesting and of use as a general overview of reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Please note that the classification of the animals may have changed since this time, as well as their environmental status. The step back in time to hear the Victorian view of nature makes it a remarkable read in itself. The author was president of the Academy of Natural Sciences. - Summary by A. Gramour

Lucy Perkins has given us many books featuring twins that give a child insight into different cultures and countries. In this one she explaining prehistoric man and his environment: "This is a story about things that happened ages and ages ago, before any of us were born, or our great-great-grandfathers either, for that matter. It was so very long ago that there were no houses, or farms, or roads from one place to another, and there was not a single city, or a town, or even a village in the whole earth...

In this sixth volume of the Twilight Animal series, we read about the adventures of Bobby the Gray Squirrel, who brings joy and happiness to a very special new friend. - Summary by Foon

Everyone who has pets can tell great stories about them. This volume collects 15 stories for children about pets: not only cats and dogs, but lambs, crows, even lions! - Summary by Carolin

Each summer, in the ancient hill town of Siena, Italy, there erupts one of the most extraordinary, exciting, and dangerous horse races in the world— the Palio. So furious is the rivalry that it is often said the Palio is more battle than race, and that "Fate is the Queen of the Palio." This magnificent book is a true story of the Palio —a thrilling, heart-stirring tale of a boy and a beautiful half-Arabian mare who won undying fame. Marguerite Henry tells—as only she can—how the life of Giorgio Terni, a boy of the Maremma marshes, became linked in strange and dramatic fashion with that of the cart horse Gaudenzia, whose Arabian blood brought her into the contest of the Palio...

In the seventh volume of the Twilight Animal series, we meet Buster the Bear, a cub who lives in a cave the woods with his mother. After an encounter with an unfriendly forest animal, he gets lost and captured, and has some marvelous adventures with humans. Will he make it back to the forest, or will he end up somewhere else?

David Cory is the author of over 50 children's book including the Little Jack Rabbit series and the Puss-in-Boots series. This is the second of the Little Jack Rabbit books. - Summary by Larry Wilson

Continuing the adventure of Buster Bear, we meet his twins, Boxer and Woof-Woof, from their first bath to misadventures with neighbors including Peter Rabbit. - Summary by Larry Wilson

In recent years the number of people interested in keeping amphibians and reptiles in captivity has grown rapidly. All too often, these same people have little knowledge of the proper care needed for their captives, nor do they know where to turn in order to learn the needs of their animals. It is the intent of the authors of this special issue to offer the proper information needed to successfully keep amphibians and reptiles in captivity. We are by no means THE experts on the subject, nor do we claim to cover all the facts. However, we do hope that enough information is furnished to answer most of the common questions asked by people. - Summary by Tom R. Johnson

How to entertain them; with chapters on the destruction of birds, their economic and aesthetic values, suggestions for dealing with their enemies and on the organization and management of bird clubs. - book subtitle. Note: Because of its length and complexity, Mr. Kennard's "sub-chapter" in Chapter 8 entitled "Trees, Shrubs, and Vines Attractive to Birds" has been omitted, but of course is available at the Gutenberg address for this work.

White Tail is the son of Father Buck, who is the leader of the herd. He and his rival Young Black Buck get into all kinds of adventures, but they have to be wary of Puma the Mountain Lion and Timber Wolf! Will White Tail be able to keep away from them and follow in his father's hoofsteps? - Summary by Foon

She-wolf Nitka finds an abandoned Native American baby and raises him with her cubs. Shasta learns the wolf ways and meets his kin, where he learns his true history. Eventually he can walk with the wolves and his human kin, which leads to more adventures.

Uncle Wiggily is not feeling very well and Dr. Possum suggests a unique treatment. He tells Uncle Wiggily that he needs to get out in the country to a farm! Thus begins the adventures of Uncle Wiggily on his newly purchased farm. The publishers note says that, "the stories herein contained appeared originally in the Evening News, of Newark, N.J., where they gave pleasure to a number of little folks and grown-ups also."

"My name is Pussy Black-Face, and I am a naughty young kitten. I wish I were good like my mother. She is the best cat that I ever saw. I try to be like her, and sometimes I succeed, but most times I don't." From the start of this darling book about a kitten and her mis-adventures in the house and the more dangerous place outside. Follow her as she learns about people, children, dogs and other cats. - Summary by phil chenevert

This 1922 adventure story for youth and dog lovers will delight anyone with just a little suspension of disbelief. Sentimental and anthropomorphic, it’s still a good read/listen for those who would appreciate how a devoted dog saved his physician master’s life during World War I. Clarence Hawkes, crippled and blind, was a prolific, popular writer, well-known for his nature stories in the twentieth century. - Summary by David Wales

A collection of stories exploring the psychological and paranormal, some stories bordering on the macabre. - Summary by Luke Castle

The irrepressible Uncle Wiggily falls ill and Dr. Possum prescribes "an automobile drive before every meal". thus Uncle Wiggly buys an automobile and sets out to be heals. His many adventures are filled with ducks, squirrels, crows and other excited animals so if you have always secretly wished to be one of these, this is you chance to do it. - Summary by phil chenevert

While working in Africa, the eminent naturalist John Dolittle sets out to create the best post office on earth, using his bird friends to carry messages and packages anywhere in the world in record time. Along the way, he also manages to foil a slave trader, enrich a kingdom, save a ship, and meet the oldest living creature on earth! - Summary by Devorah Allen Cast: Doctor Dolittle: ToddHWSpeedy the Swallow: TJ BurnsDab-Dab the Duck: Leanne YauJip the Dog: Rafe BallGub-Gub the Pig: Campbell SchelpThe...

THE BEAR FAMILY AT HOME -And How the Circus Came to Visit Them Once a little cub bear was caught in a big log trap, and taken on a train to a circus. He lived in the circus a long, long while, and every day a great many people came to see the bear, and the lions, and the tigers, and the leopards, and the elephants, and the camels, and the other animals. Every night the animals would all be put in the wagons made for them, then the wagons would be rolled on the flat-cars of a railroad train. The train would go all night to another town, where a great many people would come to see the animals and the men and women in the circus...

Misty is a Chincoteague pony mare who is close to foaling, and the Beebe family is anxious about it. Unfortunately, a terrible storm system arrives first, setting up over Chincoteague with floods, hurricane winds, ice, and snow. The story is fictional, but is based on historical characters, human and equine. Stormy describes events on Chincoteague Island during the Ash Wednesday Storm that hit the Eastern Seaboard March 6, 1962. This is the sequel to Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

Dear Children: This is a quite different book from any others you may have read about me. In this volume I have some adventures with real children, like yourselves, as well as with my animal friends. These stories tell of the joyous, funny, exciting and everyday adventures that happen to you girls and boys. There is the story about a toothache, which you may read, or have read to you, when you want to forget the pain. There is a story of a good boy and a freckled girl. And there is a story about a bad boy, but not everyone is allowed to read that...

This is an adventure story about a horse in the wild west.

The short, simple lines of these delicate poems resemble song lyrics, emphasizing the concrete but hinting at transcendent realities, although a few deal with abstractions directly. Many voices are heard: of children , animals, parents, and narrators. The two companion volumes deal with the inevitable passage from the child’s wonder and delight in the creation to the adult’s understanding of it. This transition is fraught with dangers and can result in unhealthy attitudes. Blake has little good to say about human institutions dedicated to education, but sometimes lucky children do hit upon wholesome means of passing from innocence into experience...

Simple and unpretentious as a statement by Francis d’Assisi, yet full of a gentle modern sophistication and humour, this little work will bring delight and refreshment to all who seek flight from the heavy-laden hour. It is, moreover, one of the most subtle and penetrating studies of the psychology of the dog that has ever been written—tender yet unsentimental, realistic and full of the detail of masterly observation and description, yet in its final form and precipitation a work of exquisite literary art. - Summary from the Foreword by Herman George Scheffauer

The Living Animals of the Natural World, subtitled "a popular Natural History", proposed to present the most updated version of the wonders of the Animal World in a new and clearer form. It used photography instead of the traditional illustrations of the life of beasts, birds, fishes, insects, corals, and the subjects photographed were obtained from every part of the world, many of them from the most distant islands of the Southern Ocean, the great barrier reef of Australia, the New Zealand hills, the Indian jungle, the South African veldt, and the rivers of British Columbia...