PREFACE. 
FWe.T IS with extreme reluctance that [ have been 
* induced to publish the following unpreten- 
tious volume, and I could have wished that 
the task had fallen into more able hands ; but, 
believing that a work of this kind is much 
needed, and no one else apparently being willing to 
undertake it, I venture with some diffidence to place it 
before the public, hoping that it will meet with a favorable 
reception. 
Its object is to place, at a cost within the reach of all, 
a book that will enable them to identify any bird they 
may meet with. 
When I first commenced taking an interest in ornitho- 
logy, I was much hindered by the difficulty expe- 
rienced in obtaining works dealing with the subject, those 
extant being so costly as to be quite beyond my 
means ; and it was only by practising rigid economy, 
and the exercise of much self-denial, that I obtained them. 
Even then my difficulties were not ended ; the infor- 
mation was scattered throughout so many volumes, and 
I met with so many perplexing contradictions that the 
books were often a hindrance rather than a help to me. 
I conceived the idea of compiling a hand-book for private 
use, dealing exclusively with that portion of India proper 
garrisoned by Bombay troops. Many friends, to whom 
I showed the compilation, expressed a wish to have a 
similar one, and strongly urged me to publish it; it is 
in deference to these wishes that the book appears. 
a 
