PREFACE. 



To edit any work on British Birds and their eggs is not an easy 

 task. To edit the work of such a past master on the subject as 

 my late friend Henry Seebohm, would have been difficult indeed, 

 had I not had his volumes on " British Birds " on which to rely. 

 I have done my best to present this work as I believe he would 

 have wished it to be issued. In a very few cases I have altered 

 the names of species, where I believe he would have altered 

 them himself, but in the main I have retained his nomenclature 

 throughout, and have adhered closely to the names employed 

 by him in his great work on British Birds, merely adding a 

 reference to Mr. Howard Saunders' "Manual," and my own 

 "Handbook of British Birds," where the nomenclature of the 

 species differs from that used by Mr. Seebohm. 



With the system of classification I have had nothing to do, 

 as before his death he had planned out and settled the order 

 of the plates with his friend Mr. J. A. Brailsford, and this 

 arrangement has consequently been followed. 



It is satisfactory to know that, whilst many recent Ornitho- 

 logical illustrations have avowedly been " made in Germany," 

 in this instance all the work in connection with the drawing of 

 the eggs, the lithographing of the plates, the printing of the 

 letterpress, and the binding of the volume has been done in 

 Sheffield, at the works of Messrs. Pawson & Brailsford, who are 

 the publishers of the book. 



R. BoWDLER SHARPE. 



