IV PREFACE. 



likely to be confounded, and the chief characteristics by 

 which it is to be distinguished from them. 



To the pseudo-scientific objection tliat such groupings do 

 not accentuate the natural affinities existing between birds, 

 it may be replied that such natural affinities, in order to be 

 of any practical value, must be seen first, not in books, but in 

 the birds themselves ; and that, whilst the scientific grouping 

 of birds has to do mainly with their internal, and therefore 

 unseen, parts, the pictorial principle upon which they are 

 arranged in this book presents them as they present them- 

 selves to the eye of the beholder, whose first need is to be 

 able to identify a bird according to its external appearance, 

 so as to become acquainted with the birds themselves, ere 

 passing on to the study of their less obvious relationship one 

 to another. 



In order that an observer, having identified a bird, may see 

 in what relationship it stands to other birds, a list of British 

 birds grouped in the usual scientific order is placed at the 

 end of this volume. 



The scientific terms usually employed to denote the various 

 parts of a bird's plumage have been entirely avoided, and the 

 plain terms of ordinary language used instead. Still, in order 

 tliat the student may find no difficulty in passing from this 

 work to the use of a more technical one, the usual ornitho- 

 logical terms have been enumerated and illustrated by diagram 

 at page x. 



Before proceeding to observe birds, the user of this book 

 need do no more than read through the list of Group-Head- 

 ings appearing on page v. 



The use of a field-glass is recommended, preferably one 

 magnifying two to three diameters, so as to secure a bright 

 image with a broad field. 



Illustrations of the eggs of all British-breeding birds appear 

 in the sixteen plates devoted to this part of the subject, and 

 all have been drawn and coloured from the shell. 



