VI PROSPECTUS. 



and in the publications of learned Societies, for such 

 particulars as are most needed to give the more general 

 reader a correct idea of the economy and attributes of the 

 birds which do not permanently frequent any part of the 

 United Kingdom. 



Such a mass of material as has been furnished in the man- 

 ner indicated, enables the ornithologist of the present day also 

 to rectify many statements made by his predecessors. In no 

 respect, perhaps, is this fact more manifest than in determin- 

 ing the geographical range of species, whether in the fullest 

 sense of the word ''British," or only occasional visitors to our 

 shores. It will be remembered that precision on this point 

 was made by Mr. Yarrell a prominent feature of his work ; 

 and, when the amount of information at his disposal is taken 

 into consideration, it must be conceded that he was therein 

 eminently successful. The excellent example which he himself 

 set by adding to or correcting statements bearing upon this 

 important subject, in his successive Editions, will not be 

 lost upon the new Editor, nor will the equally suggestive 

 alterations in the arrangement of certain species be neglected 

 by him. When Mr. Yarrell had satisfied himself that his 

 original allocation of certain forms had been erroneous, he 

 did not hesitate to correct the mistake — as, for instance, the 

 Pratincole and the Phalaropes, placed in his First Edition 

 among the Rails and Coots, but subsequently, with 

 unquestionable propriety, referred to the Plovers and 

 Sandpipers. The Editor, therefore, will not scruple to 

 make such systematic changes as may be considered to be 

 satisfactorily established. He is, however, desirous of stat- 

 ing that, in cases which may be still regarded as doubtful, 

 he will, whatever be his own predilections, preserve the 

 oi'iginal order of Mr. Yarrell, thinking it a lesser evil to 

 continue a possibly or even a probably erroneous arrange- 

 ment, than to offer a new one which time may show to 

 be no improvement. 



The lax method, adopted by older writers on British 

 Ornithology, of admitting any chance straggler from distant 

 lands to a place beside the real inhabitants of this country, 



