INTRODUCTION. xvii 



Booth^s 'Rough Notes' (commenced in 1881 and not yet completed) 

 possesses the merit of originality. It is not in any sense a compilation, 

 and displays much evidence of personal acquaintance with the birds he 

 describes, though to some extent it is the work of a sportsman rather than 

 of an ornithologist. Numerous interesting facts connected with the habits 

 of birds are recorded, and much light is thrown upon the changes of plu- 

 mage of many species. The plates are drawn from the author's collection 

 of birds in his museum at Brighton, Avhich must be regarded as the most 

 interesting collection of British birds ever made, not only from the fact 

 that they were all obtained by Mr. Booth in the British Islands, but also 

 from the beauty of the mounting, both of the birds themselves and of 

 their surroundings. A somewhat similar collection is in process of forma- 

 tion in the balconies of the central hall of the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington. Under the superintendence of Dr. Giinther this small 

 feature of one of the departments of the British Museum jiromises to be an 

 oasis of interest in a desert of dry detail. 



No review of a history of the study of ornithology in the British Islands 

 would be complete without a mention of Gatke, the veteran ornithologist 

 of Heligoland. Gatke is a German, and Heligoland, though under 

 British rule, is, geographically speaking, German also; but the subject of 

 migration has been so favourite a one with British ornithologists from the 

 time of Gilbert White down to our own, and Gatke's observations are 

 principally those of migrants on their way to our shores, that it would 

 be an unpardonable omission to be silent on the subject. It is profoundly 

 to be regretted that the detailed results of forty years' study of the migra- 

 tions of birds and their changes of plumage ^ should still be unpublished ; 

 but genius must be allowed to do things in its own way. The glimpses that 

 ornithologists have had of Gatke's work in his communications to ' The 

 Ibis ' &c. warrant the expectation that the new era about to commence 

 will produce at least one work worthy of the age ; but it would be a curious 

 irony of fate if the greatest work of the Darwinian period should be written 

 by an anti-Darwinist ! 



The most remarkable fact connected with all this voluminous literature 

 is that so little of it rises above the dead level of mediocrity. Of the score 

 or more authors who have written books on British birds, in the race for 

 fame Macgillivray wins in a canter, Montagu comes in a bad second, whilst 



* With the exception of Macgillivray, Selby, and perhaps cue or two others, British 

 ornithologists have neglected to discriminate between young in lirst plumage, birds of the 

 year, and, in the case of those birds which moult twice in the year, the partially adult 

 plumage which is assumed after the fii'st spring moidt. This slovenly mode of treating 

 the subject is quite as conspicuous in the most recent publications, altliough special atten- 

 tion has been called to these important details by such accurate observers as Adamson 

 and Booth, 



