iv AMERICAN EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



The aspects of Nature change ceaselessly, by day and by 

 night, through the seasons of the year, with every difference of 

 latitude and longitude ; and endless are the profusion and 

 variety of the results which illustrate the operation of her laws. 

 But, let the productions of different climes and countries be 

 never so unlike, she works by the same methods ; the spirit of 

 her teachings never changes ; Nature herself is always the 

 same, and the same wholesome, satisfying lessons are to be 

 learned in the contemplation of any of her works. We may 

 change our skies, but not our minds, in crossing the sea to gain 

 a glimpse of that bird-life which finds its exact counterpart in 

 our own woods and fields, at the very threshold of our own 

 homes. 



The practical utility of Mr. Dixon's work, as well as its 

 adaptability to the wants of American students and amateur 

 ornithologists, may easily be shown ; and it is not difficult to 

 explain exactly how the book may be used to great advantage 

 by all those who have a taste for natural-history pursuits, and 

 a desire to study birds in earnest, yet hardly know how to make 

 a beginning. 



The author gives more or less perfect sketches — in some 

 cases, finished pictures — of the habits of some sixty or seventy 

 kinds of British Birds. These are for the most part common 

 and familiar species in his country, though only very few of them 

 — such as the ubiquitous House Sparrow — can be studied in 

 our own. I would advise the reader to turn first to his author's 

 account of the character and habits of that bird, to see whether 

 or not it agrees with his own experiences. Should it be found 

 concordant, as far as it goes, with his own observations, he may 

 ask himself if there be not something still to be added, as a 



