vi PREFACE 



endeavouring to make the Story popular we 

 trust we have never done so at the expense of 

 its philosophic importance. 



The Story that the Birds have to tell us is 

 indeed a fascinating one. Beginning with the 

 Origin and Descent of Birds during geological 

 epochs so remote that the mind fails to grasp 

 or realise the mighty vastness of time that separ- 

 ates the Then from the Now, we pass on to a 

 consideration of their salient characteristics in 

 existing forms, their anatomical features, the 

 bony framework and internal organs, the pecu- 

 liarities of their dermal covering, its structure, 

 colours, and functions. Then we take up the 

 subject of the various Groups or Orders into 

 which systematists have divided Birds, the com- 

 position of those orders, the affinities and pecu- 

 liarities of the species in them. After which we 

 trace out the Distribution of Birds over the earth, 

 and then endeavour to ascertain the conditions 

 of their Dispersal and the laws that govern their 

 Migrations. Then comes the subject of the 

 General Habits and Functions of Birds — their 

 Flight, terrestrial and aquatic motions, Social 

 Instincts, Food, and the many methods of obtain- 

 ing it, the Mimicry of Birds, their Protective 

 Colouration and Resemblances, Variation and 



