seasons of the year, as well as by the striking differences which often distin- 
guish the two sexes, and the immature birds. The endeavour to satisfy this 
desire will open up a new world. Those who would pass to this knowledge 
should possess themselves of the “ Practical Handbook of British Birds.” 
Though most severely practical, and designed for the serious student alone, 
even the beginner will find interest in the description of these several 
plumages, and much else beside that it is essential to know. 
Now that the study of flight is so much to the fore, some may turn 
to these pages in the hope of gaining useful information on the theme of 
mechanical flight. Some help they may find. But it was not for this 
that they were written. The flight of an aeroplane and the flight of a bird 
have little in common—at present; though something may be learned 
by the study of gliding flight and soaring, which of course have their place 
in this book. But anatomical details and mechanical formule, necessary 
to the serious student of flight, would have been entirely out of place here, 
and they have been omitted. 
My task has been by no means easy. But it has been enormously 
helped by the extremely skilful and beautiful work of the artist, Mr. Roland 
Green. Where birds are concerned, few artists in the past, and very few 
in the present, have shown any ability to combine accuracy in drawing 
with ingenuity of composition and faithfulness in colouring. Mr. Green 
has shown this rare combination ; his coloured plates and line-drawings 
speak for themselves. 
WP PYiCRART: 
London, 
September, 1922 
