vi PREFACE. 



Edinburgh. Skins and eggs have been sent to me by G. H. 

 GREExnow, Esq., Northumberland; Mr. Henderson, GifFord, 

 East Lothian ; Mr. Alexander Brand, Peterhead ; and Mr. 

 Roderick Betiiune, Harris. Lastly, valuable observations re- 

 lative to the habits of various species of birds have been com- 

 municated by Th. Durham Weir, Esq. of Boghead, Linlith- 

 gowshire ; Mr. William Hogg, shepherd, Stobo Hope, Peebles- 

 shire ; W. Smellie Watson, Esq., Edinburgh ; and, through 

 Dr. Aitkin, by James Barclay, Esq., Shetland. 



To the individuals who have thus generously lent me their 

 aid, I beg leave to offer my most sincere thanks. 



And now, having announced the purport, and given some 

 intimation of the quality of the work, I may be permitted 

 to express a hope that it will be found useful by those who 

 may be disposed to take me as their guide in the pleasant 

 pursuits from w^hich I have derived much of the happiness 

 that a beneficent Providence has been pleased to confer 

 upon me. It would be folly of a kind not common in those 

 who have taken some note of the fluctuations of public 

 opinion, and have observed the diversity of taste with refe- 

 rence to objects of art or science, to expect that all who may 

 read this volume should be pleased with it, or that its author 

 should be so fortunate as to obtain the confidence and approba- 

 tion of all who are qualified to judge of its merits and defects ; 

 but he yet trusts that it may prove useful, both as affording 

 correct descriptions of a considerable number of our indigenous 

 birds, and as tending to introduce a more rational method of 

 study than that hitherto followed, by evincing the practica- 

 bility of applying characters derived from their internal struc- 

 ture to the purpose of classification. 



W. MACGILLIVRAY. 



Edinburgh, 1*/ May 1837. 



