viii INTRODUCTION. 



personal experience, gained not only in the British 

 Islands, but in many parts of Europe, and notably in 

 European and Asiatic Siberia, where the nests and 

 eggs of many so-called rare birds were discovered. 

 (4.) Booth's "Rough Notes on the Birds Observed 

 during Twenty Years' Shoooting and Collecting in 

 the British Islands," a folio work, which has been 

 appearing in parts with coloured plates since i88r, 

 and of which the last part has been now published, 

 details the results of the author's own experience, 

 and supplies much information concerning the 

 breeding haunts and habits of birds generally ac- 

 counted rare as observed in Scotland. The *' Hand- 

 book of British Birds," by Mr. Harting ; the article 

 " Birds " by Professor Newton and Professor W. K. 

 Parker, and " Ornithology " by Professor Newton, 

 published in the ninth edition of the " Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica," may be mentioned as indispensable aids 

 to those who would acquire a thorough knowledge 

 of the British avifauna, and a key to its literature. 

 As regards nomenclature — a difficult subject — the 

 ** Ibis List," which should be authoritative (having 

 been published in 1883 by a committee of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union), unfortunately contains many 

 errors which, considering the reputation of the com- 

 pilers, ought to have been avoided. 



It has long been known that there are certain 

 species of birds which reside only a portion of the 

 year with us, arriving from the south in spring, and, 

 after rearing their young in this country, depart south- 

 ward again in the autumn. The males arrive first, 



