Preface 



most birds possess some anatomical peculiarity, 

 such as a crest, a long tail, long legs, etc. 

 Not a few have some easily recognisable habit, 

 such as a peculiar call or manner of flight. 

 Thus most birds will appear in at least two 

 of my classes, and so should be easily identified 

 by a process of elimination. When the reader 

 thinks that he has located a bird he should 

 turn it up in the descriptive list, which com- 

 poses Part II of this book, and this will serve 

 to confirm or correct him in his identification. 

 Thus, to take a very easy example, the ob- 

 server while out walking sees a white bird with 

 a long tail, and a black crested head. Looking 

 through the lists of birds under (i) those having 

 long tails ; (2) those having a crest ; (3) those 

 mainly white, he will find that the Paradise 

 Flycatcher is the only bird that appears in 

 all three lists. Its number in the descriptive 

 list is (57). A perusal of entry No. 57 will 

 confirm the diagnosis, and indicate where 

 illustrations of the bird are to be found. 



I venture to hope that this little book will 

 enable any person to learn in a few weeks to 

 identify nearly all the common birds of his 

 station. 



The descriptions given in Part II of the 

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