PREFACE. 
AnGLo-InpIAN readers of the present work will 
notice that birds of prey, waders, game-birds and _ water- 
fowl have been omitted therefrom, although some 
species of these—such as the kite—are among the very 
commonest birds of the Hast ; but this was done owing 
to exigencies of space, which compelled greater atten- 
tion to some of the “small birds.” In dealing with 
these, also, | have endeavoured, where a choice had to 
be made, to deal with as many different groups as possible, 
rather than to particularize many species in one group, 
in the hope of making the book serviceable as an intro- 
duction to the study of the ornithology of our Hastern 
Empire. 
The same considerations have guided me in the 
avicultural part of the work, wherein I have endeavoured 
to meet the requirements of the beginner in bird-keeping 
by indicating those species which are most easily obtained 
and kept. The names of imported cage-birds are dis- 
tinguished by an asterisk in the letter press and by Italics 
in the List of Contents. 
BK, FINN. 
Lonpon, 1906. 
