ii PREFACE. 



In my efforts on the present occasion I have been aided by 

 several kind friends and successful observers. May they live 

 to see my labours, in which they have taken so lively an inte- 

 rest, completed, and their object accomplished I From the 

 south and the north, the east and the west, information has 

 flowed in. Scarcely was my second volume published, when 

 I received, from a gentleman resident in Leicester, who has 

 long dedicated part of his time to the study of birds, an offer 

 of assistance, which I gladly accepted, and congratulations, 

 which excited the most lively emotions, seeing they came from 

 a man of kindred sentiments, whose heart warmed toward one 

 whose writings had afforded him pleasure. Well has that 

 honourable and kind-hearted Englishman, Mr Harley, per- 

 formed his promises, as the pages of this volume will shew. 

 From the sea-girt rocks of Zetland, the voice of an old and 

 dear friend has come to assure me of his sympathy and esteem. 

 That friend, Dr Lawrence Edmondston, well known as an 

 enthusiastic observer of birds, who has added much to our 

 knowledge of those of his native country, has supplied me 

 with several important articles, and will enrich the remaining 

 volumes with the results of his investigations respecting the 

 habits of the feathered denizens of his semi- Scandinavian Isles. 

 A gentleman familiarly known to my readers, Mr Th. Durham 

 Weir, — one of whose most strict and scrupulous adherence on 

 all occasions to truth, of whose almost unrivalled perseverance 

 and lyncean acuteness of observation, everyone acquainted with 

 him is well assured, — one who personifies honesty and integrity, 

 those most precious but most rare qualities, — has not intermitted 

 his benevolent efforts to forward my views. While he has thus 

 poured in his contributions from the west, an Anglo-Norman 

 in the east, my equally enthusiastic and most estimable young 

 friend, Mr Hepburn, has favoured me with a mass of interest- 

 ing observations, of which I have been obliged to select only a 

 part, otherwise I should have extended the present volume 

 much beyond its legitimate magnitude. Dr Robertson of Dun- 

 keld, to whom I am personally unknown, has most generously 

 presented me Math specimens, and offered his aid in procuring 

 more, as well as in supplying observations. The Rev, Mr 



