PREFACE 



TO 



VOLS. III.-IV. OF THE FOURTH EDITION. 



This Fourth Edition of Yarrell's ' History of British 

 Birds ' was commenced by Professor Newton in 1871, and 

 continued by him until May 1882, during which time the 

 account of the Accipitres, Passeres, and Picarice was com- 

 pleted. In June 1882 I undertook to finish the work — not 

 willingly or with a light heart, but after considerable pressure 

 and at much personal sacrifice. There were various difii- 

 culties which could be foreseen, and not the least among 

 them was the conviction that my portion of the work must 

 necessarily appear at a disadvantage when compared with 

 the high standard of excellence attained by my predecessor. 

 There was, moreover, a stipulation for the completion of the 

 work by June 1885 ; and, allowing for a pre-arranged and 

 necessary absence of six months from England, this left 

 only two and a half years for writing the history of nearly 

 200 species. The accomplishment of the task within the 

 allotted term may be allowed to extenuate some slips of the 

 pen which are corrected in the Errata. 



The Second and Third Editions were little more than 

 reprints with additions, of the First, which appeared just 

 forty-two years ago. During the interval our knowledge of 

 many species has been vastly augmented, and the literature 

 of the main subject has been more than doubled ; an in- 



