PREFACE 



There are many people who take an intelligent 

 interest in Birds and their Habits, and would 

 like to acquire a more extended knowledge of 

 ornithology were they not discouraged by the 

 dry and technical manner in which such infor- 

 mation is usually conveyed. The present volume 

 has been written with a view to removing some 

 at least o^ these obstacles to the acquisition of a 

 general knowledge of Birds. We have sought to 

 tell their story simply and in language as free 

 from technicalities as possible ; to produce a 

 guide or handbook to the study of birds that 

 shall be both popular and accurate as we can 

 make it. We make no pretensions to complete- 

 ness or finality, for such could scarcely have 

 been even approximately reached had each 

 chapter been expanded into a volume ; but we 

 do claim for our work that no reader can master 

 its contents without gaining a very general know- 

 ledge of the avine kingdom. Whilst always 



