AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



Although memoirs relating to particular groups have from 

 time to time made their appearance, no Monograph of the 

 British Mammals as a whole has been published since the 

 second edition of Bell's "British Quadrupeds" in 1874. Since 

 that date considerable advances have been made with regard to 

 our knowledge of the geographical distribution of our Native 

 Mammals, while the careful study of nomenclature instituted of 

 late years, has rendered it necessary that many of our Mammals 

 should be known by scientific names different from those by 

 which they have been commonly designated in the older works 

 on Natural History. These two circumstances would alone 

 justify the issue of the present volume ; but there is a further 

 justification for its appearance, in that it contains, for the first 

 time in a work of this nature, brief notices of the species ex- 

 terminated within the historic period, with a further section 

 devoted to the fossil forms. 



The Author makes no claim to being an observer of the 

 habits of British Mammals ; and he has accordingly drawn 

 largely from Macgillivray's excellent "Manual," published in 

 the original issue of the " Naturalist's Library." Indeed, the 

 present volume may be regarded almost as a new edition 

 of that excellent, although now somewhat antiquated, work. 

 When necessary, Macgillivray's observations have, however, 

 been added to or modified; and the Author's best thanks 

 are due to Mr. A. Trevor-Battye and Mr. W. E. de Winton for 



