vi PREFACE 



they are at a loss to identify them, although familiar 

 enough with many of their songs, and are practically 

 ignorant of their habits and economy. 



The present volume has been written to furnish 

 just the popular information respecting our favourite 

 song birds that the less informed average observer 

 would like to acquire. It is neither an ambitious 

 nor a scientific treatise, but a simple guide to the 

 characteristics, the songs, and the habits of those 

 common birds of ours whose voices at one season of 

 the year or another gladden almost every country 

 stroll. That it may prove a pleasant and informing 

 companion to these rambles is the hearty wish of 

 its author, who has used every endeavour to make 

 it so. 



C D. 



Paigfiton, Devon, 1897. 



