17 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



THE BRITISH BIRDS OF PREY. 



It is not entirely consist?ent with the object of this 

 Treatise, to offer a formal arrangement of the Preda- 

 ceous Birds that are dispersed over the globe ; nor is 

 the knowledge of its author sufficient to enable him to 

 perform such a task, in a manner satisfactory, either to 

 himself or to others. The general observations which 

 he presumes to lay before his readers will therefore be 

 confined to those species, genera, and families, which 

 occur in our own island. 



The Rapacious Birds of this country are all included 

 in the genera Falco and Strix of Linnaeus, or the two 

 great families of Falconine and Strigine Birds, the for- 

 mer comprehending Eagles and Hawks, the latter 

 Owls. The Order of Rapacious Birds, however, em- 

 braces, besides these two families, another, that of the 

 Vultures, which has no representative among the spe- 



B 



