PREFACE TO ORIGINAL EDITION ' 



The object proposed in this volume is, in the first 

 place, to present our young readers with a complete 

 and systematic list of our British birds: — the word 

 British being taken to mean such as, being truly wild 

 birds, either inhabit Britain throughout the year ; 

 visit Britain statedly for longer or shorter periods of 

 each year ; or have been proved to reach the shores of 

 Britain two or three times, or oftener, under the 

 pressure of any incidental circumstances whatever. 



In the next place, the attempt has been made to dis- 

 tinguish at once between the rare or casual visitors, 

 and such as are really denizens of the land, whether 

 for a few weeks or months annually or by unbroken 

 habitation. 



But the principal object and intention of the book 

 is to present accurate and trustworthy accounts of the 

 Nests and Nesting-sites, the Eggs, and any ascertained 



1 The Editor thinks it better to reproduce these portions of the 

 oiiginal book as they were written nearly thirty-five years ago, 

 partly because they are important parts of tho volume of which tlie 

 present is simply a New Edition, and partly because what in them 

 v/aa worth printing tlicu is worth printing still. Where moditica- 

 fcioD, more or less noticeable, is called for, attention will be directed 

 to tlio circumstances iu notes or othorwi^e. 



V 



