IV PREFACE. 



would eftectually learn from nature, must approach with affec- 

 tion, and receive her instructions with a humility that would 

 ill accord with any subsequent vain display of the knowledge 

 acquired. 



Although my qualifications for the task which I have thus 

 undertaken will be best judged of by the manner in which it 

 has been executed, yet I may be permitted to intimate that I 

 have not spared time or labour to enable me to perform it with 

 credit to myself and advantage to the public. About twenty 

 years have elapsed since I commenced the study of ornithology, 

 and, though a very large portion of that time has been devoted 

 to other pursuits, I have always eagerly availed myself of the 

 opportunities which occurred of accumulating facts relating to 

 it. For the purpose of making myself acquainted with the 

 natural productions of the country, I have undertaken many 

 long journeys, performed numerous short excursions, traversed 

 the cultivated districts, wandered among the wild moors of the 

 interior, and visited the distant islands to which the sea-birds 

 resort. I have endeavoured further to qualify myself for the 

 task by attending to the observations and inferences of other 

 students of nature, as recorded in their works, and by inspect- 

 ing the objects contained in museums of Natural History. My 

 education having had reference to the medical profession, I have 

 been enabled to profit by the taste for anatomical pursuits which 

 I had imbibed in the course of it. The importance of the di- 

 gestive organs in particular has seemed to me so great that I 

 have, as already mentioned, been induced to pay particular 

 attention to them. Not content with accumulating notes and 

 drawings as I had opportunity, I have finally formed an exten- 

 sive collection of preserved skins, not of British birds only, but 

 of species from all countries ; that, while preparing my obser- 

 vations for the press, I might be enabled to compare my 

 descriptions, so far as they have reference to the external parts, 

 with the originals themselves, and thus correct errors and sup- 

 ply deficiencies. Anatomical preparations I have also procured 

 for the same purpose. In short, according to my ability, I 

 have done all that seemed necessary for the occasion ; and may, 

 without presumption, hope that I shall not be considered as 



