INTRODUCTION xxi 



edition employed familiar names which have been 

 since approved by the Committee of the B.O.U., I 

 see nothing to be gained by the substitution of 

 others which would obviously hinder a comparison 

 of the elements of the British avifauna as viewed 

 from past and present standpoints. 



Of course, when an obvious mistake can be 

 shown to have been made in attempting to identify 

 a species from an imperfect description, a change 

 in the nomenclature might be desirable, but when 

 a name, published with a recognisable description, 

 has become familiar by long usage there seems no 

 good reason for disturbing it. Still less justifiable 

 does it seem to adopt on the score of priority 

 from a mere Catalogue (such as that of Tunstal or 

 Leach) a bare name to which no description of 

 any sort is appended. 



With these brief remarks on nomenclature, we 

 may pass to a consideration of the terms employed 

 to designate the various groups of birds which are 

 placed in Parts I. and II. of this " Handbook." 

 Of the total number of species enumerated 130 are 

 residents, 100 periodical migrants, and 32 annual 

 visitants, the remainder (167) being rare and acci- 

 dental wanderers. 



As Residents are included those species which 

 rear their young annually in the British Islands, 

 and are to be found in some part or other of the 

 United Kingdom throughout the year. Of these 

 many are partially migratory, as, for instance, Falco 



