PREFACE 



The following Studies deal principally with the habits and 

 economy of those rarer British birds which, from the remote 

 and secluded districts they frequent, the localness of their 

 distribution, and their shy and retiring disposition, do not 

 come very generally under the notice of casual observers. 

 In wanderinf^j throuoii the woods or alonc^ the shore, or over 

 the mountains and the moors, the observer often obtains a 

 cursory glimpse of these our rarer birds ; the object of this 

 volume is to enable him to identify them, and to make 

 him familiar with their habits and characteristics. Fifteen 

 years of my life have been spent in this labour of love — in 

 gathering from personal observation the facts which are 

 here recorded. The greater part of these pages has been 

 written in the places where my information was obtained — in 

 field and forest, on mountain and cliff, with the birds them- 

 selves around me. The naturalist may doubtless find some 

 facts new to him in these Studies, and many questions 

 relating to the economy of birds have been discussed. In 

 the following pages I have always endeavoured to lead the 

 observer to a contemplation of those higher questions of 

 Natural Science which Ornithology so aptly illustrates, and 

 to put him in the way of appreciating the scientific value 



