Vlll PREFACE. 



petition with this indefatigable naturalist, and would 

 have left the work alone. Even now I would retire 

 from the field if I thought my publication could in- 

 juriously affect the success of his work. It will 

 rather, I believe, have a contrary effect. The two 

 books are essentially different in plan, size, and price, 

 and the one may, I venture to hope, rather assist the 

 other by stimulating an interest in the subject among 

 some who have not hitherto had their attention directed 

 this way. 



It would certainly have been more satisfactory to 

 me if I had had the advantage of seeing Dr. Day's 

 new work before compiling my own book. He has 

 doubtless collected a considerable amount of infor- 

 mation not hitherto published, and has probably 

 described some new species. 



It must be remembered, however, that no work on 

 Natural History can be considered complete in the 

 sense of containing all possible information ; what I 

 have given here is fully sufficient, I trust, to fulfil 

 the object of the book, and will be found, I hope, 

 fairly accurate so far as it goes. 



