XX INTRODUCTION. 
of half a century ago, who, so long as he possessed an egg of each species 
of British bird, did not care whence it came or under what circumstances 
or by whom it was collected ; and where they rise above this level, they 
scarcely get beyond the almost equally melancholy pomt of view of the 
museum curator, who, when he has labelled his specimen with name, 
locality, date, and collector, thinks that the requirements of science are 
satisfied. Of late years 
OoLocy 
has been much neglected. Some ornithologists ignore the subject alto- 
gether. It is looked upon by a few clever men as being specially adapted 
to the capacity of the schoolboy, but somewhat beneath the dignity of the 
scientific man; and it is in consequence too frequently despised. The 
new impetus given to the study of all branches of natural history by 
the discoveries of Darwin and Wallace has at length reached Oology ; and 
an additional interest is given to it from the light which it throws in many 
cases upon the relationships of species and genera. The connexion between 
the colour of the egg and the colour of its surroundings, where it is ex- 
posed to danger, is also an additional question of interest of a strictly 
scientific character. 
It is, however, an immense mistake to suppose that the history of a 
bird is completed by the meagre details given in such ultra-scientific 
works as the British Museum Catalogues. In these high and dry publica- 
tions nothing is given but the synonymy, sufficiently complete to be an 
index to the literature, a minute description of the colours of the plumage 
and the changes produced by age, sex, and season, and the geographical 
distribution. These particulars may be sufficient for the museum curator ; 
but for the field-naturalist they are but the foundation upon which his 
superstructure is to be built. The real history of a bird is its life-history. 
The deepest interest attaches to every thing that reveals the little mind, 
however feebly it may be developed, which lies behind the feathers. The 
habits of the bird during the breeding-season, at the two periods of migration, 
and in winter; its mode of flight and of progression on the ground, in the 
trees, or on the water ; its song and its various call- and alarm-notes ; its food 
and its mode of procuring it at different seasons of the year; its migra- 
tions, the dates of arrival and departure, the routes it chooses, and the 
winter quarters it selects ; and, above all, every particular respecting its 
breeding, when it begins to build, how many broods it rears in the reason, 
the place it selects in which to build its nest, the materials it uses for the 
purpose, the number of eggs it lays, the variation in their colour, size, and 
shape,—all these particulars are the real history of a bird; and in the 
account of each species of British bird I endeavour to give as many of 
them as possible. 
Oology may be described as the poetry of Ornithology; and to do it 
eee! 
