INTRODUCTION. 

 THE STUDY OF BIRDS. 



To those who are fortunate enough to have in any 

 measure the spirit of the naturalist — as we see it, for 

 instance, in types so different as Gilbert White, William 

 Macgillivray, and Charles Darwin — nothing is common or 

 unclean. They have a curiosity that is catholic in its tastes ; 

 they have ' a love exceeding a simple love of things that 

 glide in grasses and rubble of woody wreck,' and they have 

 a conviction that everything is equally wonderful if we 

 only know enough about it. At the same time, it must 

 be admitted that living creatures differ in their accessibility ; 

 that some stimulate our interest more readily than others ; 

 that those whose lives present many analogies to our own 

 have a peculiar fascination ; and that some have been 

 wrapped up so closely with human life that associations 

 have added greatly to their natural appeal. On these 

 grounds, and on many others, the study of birds has 

 had for several centuries many devotees in this country, 

 and it appeals to-day to a more varied constituency than 

 any other department of natural history. As it is one 

 of the most wholesome, educative, and enjoyable of studies, 

 every one must wish that the ranks of bird-lovei-s may 

 be increasingly reciniited ; but one must also wish that the 

 study will continue to widen the scope of its inquiries, 

 keeping in touch with the general progress of biological 

 science. And it is from the point of view of a general 

 biologist — the only one possible to me where birds are 

 concerned — that I have written this brief Introduction to 



