X PREFACE. 



by Colonel Irby, Captain Savile Reid, and Mr. Theodore 

 Walker. The same may be said of the collection of bird-skins ; 

 and no one would say that Salvin, Godman, Hume, Seebohm, 

 Sclater, Shelley, or Howard Saunders, were not field-natural- 

 ists, because they were also " cabinet "-naturalists, and had 

 written important works on ornithology. The same can be 

 said of the ornithologists in foreign museums — of Biittikofer, 

 the explorer of Liberia and Dutch Borneo ; of Reichenow, the 

 traveller in Aguapim and the Cameroons ; of Meyer, the 

 explorer of Celebes and New Guinea ; of Hartert, the explorer 

 of the Niger, of Assam^ Perak, and Sumatra ; of Forbes, of 

 Timor Laut and New Guinea fame ; and dozens of others could 

 be mentioned. Of the American ornithologists, I believe that 

 there is not one in charge of a museum that has not won his 

 spurs in the field. The taunt of being " cabinet "-naturalist 

 only falls harmless in these days, when levelled at such men 

 and many others I could name. 



My opportunities for field-work may have not been many. I 

 have tried to make the most of them, and I feel that this is 

 true, for nearly every vacation that I have had in my life has 

 been spent in the study of birds in their haunts. Nevertheless, 

 there are dozens of British birds whose nests I have never 

 taken, and whose haunts I have never been able to visit. My 

 own small experiences have been recorded in the present work, 

 but where I have not been fortunate enough to have personal 

 acquaintance with a species, I have given the best account 

 that I could lay my hands on at the time. The space at my 

 disposal has never been enough to go very deeply into the 

 subject of the habits of the birds, and I have generally given 

 a brief extract, taken from some well-known work, like that of 

 Seebohm, or from some less-known volumes like those of 

 Nelson, Elliot, Brehm, Saxby, &c. At the same time, I have 

 to acknowledge the receipt of many interesting original notes 



