PEEFACE. 



The origin of the present work is founded on the 

 material brought together in connection with a certain 

 area in Kent, but in that limited portion of the county 

 it was noticed that the Avi-fauna would scarcely be of 

 sufficient importance for even a small work like that of 

 the Birds of Bainham, by the late Mr. W. Prentis, 

 therefore it was carefully considered and found advisable 

 to take in the whole of the county. It was also thought 

 desirable to collect all the material hitherto written, and 

 give to those who have done so much towards our know- 

 ledge of the Birds of Kent, full credit for their observa- 

 tions. In doing this it necessitated much time to collect 

 the scattered information, and research into all the works 

 inaccessible to the general reader, including numerous 

 publications from a very early date, beginning with 

 Linnaeus's Systenia Natura (1766) ; Latham's General 

 Synopsis of Birds (1781-87-1801) ; Boys' Birds of Sand- 

 wick (1792); the Zoologist (1843-1906); the Kev. J. Pem- 

 berton Bartlett's notes on the Birds of Kent (1844); G. 

 Dowker's Birds of East Kent (1889) ; Messrs. Power andi 

 W. Prentis's Birds of Bainham (1894) ; J. Gould's Birds 

 of Great Britain (1873) ; Yarrell's British Birds (1871-85) ; 

 J. E. Harting's Hand-hooJcs (1872-1901), and many other 



