PREFACE. XVIL 



Projet de loi the Gazette says, " II n'est que juste 

 en fait que ceux qui veulent se lier au plaisir de la 

 chasse paient pour cette fantaisie et que par ce 

 moyen le trop grand nombre de nos chasseurs 

 maladroits et inexperimentes se voit reduit au grand 

 avantage de nos fermiers et de nos promeneurs ;" 

 and probably also to the advantage of the chasseurs 

 themselves. 



In regard to the nomenclature, I have done the 

 best I can to follow the rule laid doAvn by the 

 British Association ; but not living in London, 

 and consequently not having access to a sufficiently 

 large ornithological library to enable me to search 

 out the various synonyms for myself and ascertain 

 the exact dates, I have therefore been obliged to 

 rely on the best authorities whose works I possess,. 

 and accept the name given by them. In doing 

 this, I have no doubt I have been quite as correct 

 as I should have been had I waded through the 

 various authors who have ^vritten on the subject, 

 as I have invariably accepted the name adopted by 

 Professor Newton in his edition of Yarrell, and by 

 Mr. Dresser in his ' Birds of Europe, as far as 

 these works are yet complete : for the birds not yet 

 included in either I have for the most part taken 

 the scientific names from Mr. Howard Saunders's 

 ' Catalogue des oiseaux du midi de L'Espagne,' 

 published in the * Proceedings ' of the Societe 



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