36 INTRODUCTION. 



Feet, reticulated — When the scales are like network. 



Feet, plated — When the scales are large and overlap, like a 

 coat of mail. 



Scabrous — Rough, rugged. 



Phalanges — The joints of the toes. 



Toe, reversible — Capable of being turned back, like the outer 

 toe of some of the owls. 



Toe, fimbriated — When the sides are fringed, like the grouse. 



Digits — The toes. 



Claws, retractile — Capable of being drawn back into a sheath, 

 like the falcon's. 



These may help my young readers in the study of other 

 ornithologists, as I have carefully avoided using technical 

 names as much as possible myself. 



At the end of the volume is appended a syllabus of practical 

 Taxidermy, or the art of preparing and preserving skins of birds 

 or other animals, which will be useful to those preparing 

 collections. 



Divisions. 



I shall now give the two divisions and the five orders I 

 mean to adhere to, for the sake of reducing the species into 

 some kind of system, and also give a synopsis of the whole, 

 which will be of service in classifying each species and genus, 

 which table will, at a glance, show to which genus, family, or 

 order each species belongs to, according to the partial arrange- 

 ment of this little work. 



Land Birds and Water Birds. 



The two divisions are the land birds and the water birds. 

 A division so self-evident needs no comment. There are 178 

 different species or kinds of land birds, which live on or visit 

 Great Britain, and 169 water birds — there being thus no fewer 

 than 347 of our feathered friends which reside in or visit the 

 British islands. 



The five " orders" like the four fingers and thumb of the 

 human hand, are the Raptor es (or tearers), the Insessores (or 

 perchers), the Rasores (or scrapers), the Grallatores (or waders), 

 and the Natatores (or swimmers and divers). The first three 

 are the land birds, the other two the water birds. 



