PREFACE. 



The following History of British Birds was published in 

 thirty-seven Parts of three sheets each, at intervals of two 

 months; the first Part was issued in July 1837, and the last 

 in May 1843. During these six years many occurrences of 

 rare birds, and of some that were even new to Britain, be- 

 came known to me, either by the communications of private 

 friends and correspondents, or from the examination of the 

 various periodical works which give publicity to such events. 

 To render this History, therefore, as complete as my means 

 will permit, I devote this Preface to the enumeration of all 

 such occurrences as have become known to me since the 

 period of inserting the account of the species in its order in 

 the body of the work ; and the new subjects have been en- 

 graved on single leaves, so paged, that the bookbinder may 

 insert these separate leaves among the birds of the genus to 

 which each respectively belongs. 



Red-footed Falcon, or Orange-legged Hobby. 

 Falco rujipes, vol. i. p. 44. Besides the specimens noticed 

 under this title, Frederick Holme, Esq. of Christchurch Col- 

 lege Oxford, has recorded the capture of a female, which was 

 struck down by a raven in Littlecote Park near Hungerford, 

 and a second, which was shot in Yorkshire. — Zoologist, No. 

 3, page 78. 



The Woodchat Shrike. Lanius rutilus, vol. i. p. 

 160. E. H. Rodd, Esq. of Penzance, in a communication 

 read before the Royal Institute of Cornwall in 1840, men- 



