598.2 
Ee a2 
, (- 
Birds 
PREFACE 
In this volume of the “ Cambridge Natural History” the author 
has attempted to meet a need which he beheves to be some- 
what widely felt. Recognising the fact that there is at the 
present time an abundance of popular, or only slightly scien- 
tific, works on Birds, some of which touch but superficially upon 
the individual species composing the various groups, as regards 
their plumage or habits, while others pay little or no attention 
to correctness of Classification, he has essayed the difficult and 
apparently unattempted task of including in some six hundred 
pages a short description of the majority of the forms in many of 
the Families, and of the most typical or important of the innumer- 
able species included in the large Passerine Order. Prefixed to 
each group is a brief summary of the Structure and Habits; a 
few further particulars of the same nature being subsequently 
added where necessary, with a statement of the main Fossil forms 
as yet recorded. 
Thus it is hoped that the work may be of real use, not only 
to the tyro in Ornithology, but also to the traveller or resident 
in foreign parts interested in the subject, who, without time or 
opportunity for referring to the works of specialists, may yet need 
the aid of a concise account of the species likely to cross his path. 
An introductory chapter has been written, to meet the claims 
of the present day, on the external and to a limited extent on 
the internal structure of Birds, with short paragraphs on Classi- 
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