viii INTRODUCTION. 



Mr Rankin's beautiful pictures and my son's text. It 

 may be useful to emphasise what is so often illustrated 

 in the body of the book, that the study of birds is very 

 \vide and very deep — going far beyond and far below the 

 recording of occurrences and the observation of movements, 

 important and indispensable as these and similar inquiries 

 are. 



Represextative Character of British Birds. 



Allusion has often been made to the fact that 

 Britain is very favourably situated for the study of birds. 

 It is not merely that the list of ' British birds ^ — now 

 reaching a total of 442 species or thereby — is a very 

 respectable list for two small islands, though it is small 

 compared with the world-list of 19,000 or so ; it is 

 rather that we get such a representative sample of the 

 whole, and that many of our species are happily abundant 

 and very accessible to study. The modern Cavinate birds 

 (' keeled,' and usually flying) are, according to the scheme 

 followed in this work, classed into nineteen natural Ordei-s : 



1. * Alcae — Auks. 



2. * Pygopodes — Divers and Grebes. 



3. * Tubinares — Petrels, Albatrosses, &c. 



4. Sphenisci — Penguins. 



5. * Gaviae — Skuas, Gulls, &c. 



6. * Limicolae — e.g. Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipe. 



7. * Grallae — Rails, Cranes, and Bustards. 



8. * Gallinae — e.g. Grouse, Pheasants, Hoatzin. 



9. Tinami — Tinamous. 



10. * Columba3 — Pigeons. 



11. * Anseres — Ducks, Geese, and Swans. 



12. * f Odontoglossi — Flamingoes. 



t One species is an accidental visitor to Britain, but none is 

 indiKenous. 



