PREFACE 



The openino- cliai)ter contains, by way of intro- 

 duction, all that need be said concernino- the 

 object and scope of this work ; it remains to 

 say here that, as my aim has been to furnish an 

 account of the London wild bird life of to-day, 

 there was little help to l)e had from the writings 

 of previous oi)servers. These mostly deal with 

 the central parks, and are interesting now, 

 mainly, as showing the chano-es that haye taken 

 })lace. At the end of tlie volume a list will be 

 found of the papers and jjooks on the sidjject 

 which are known to me. This list will strike 

 man}^ readers as an exceedingly meagre one, 

 when it is remembered that London has always 

 been a home of ornitholooists — that from the 

 days of Oliver Goldsmith, who wrote pleasantly 



