VI PREFACE. 



from a perusal of the bibliography given hereafter. 

 Let me endeavour to express the unambitious aim 

 of this little book. It is offered as no more than 

 the merest outline, an introduction to the many 

 excellent handbooks to county fauna enumerated 

 in the bibliography, from which I may perhaps, 

 without incurring the charge of making invidious 

 distinctions, be allowed to indicate as admirable 

 models the series prepared by Messrs Harvie-Brown 

 and Buckley. What these and other county chron- 

 iclers have been able to give in detail, it has been 

 my duty only to outline. The physical peculiari- 

 ties of the various zoological divisions have, except 

 in the introduction, been dealt with but incidentally; 

 those of counties, which in no way conform to the 

 natural boundaries, have been all but ignored. The 

 great difficulty throughout, of course, has been 

 compression ; but it is hoped that, since it has been 

 found impossible to give the v:liolc truth, there has 

 at any rate been included nothing but the truth. 

 It will probably be noticed that slightly different 

 methods of description have been adopted in the 

 several cases of the mammals, birds, and fishes ; but 

 these have been thought to offer the most convenient 

 aid in each case to identification. In short, the 

 object of the following pages is to give some clue to 

 the appearance and life-history of the 700 odd verte- 



