PREFACE TO ORIGINAL EDITION* 



The object proposed in this volume is, in the first 

 place, to present our young readers with a complete 

 and systematic list of our British birds: — the word 

 British being taken to mean such as, being truly wild 

 birds, either inhabit Britain throughout the year ; 

 visit Britain statedly for longer or shorter periods of 

 each year ; or have been proved to reach the shores of 

 Britain two or three times, or oftener, under the 

 pressure of any incidental circumstances whatever. 



In the next place, the attempt has been made to dis- 

 tinguish at once between the rare or casual visitors, 

 and such as are really denizens of the land, whether 

 for a few weeks or months annually or by unbroken 

 habitation. 



But the principal object and intention of tho book 

 is to present accurate and trustworthy accounts of the 

 Nests and Nesting-sites, the Eggs, and any ascertained 



1 The Editor thinks it better to reproduce these portions of the 

 original book as they were written nearly thirty-five years ago, 

 partly because they are important parts of the volume of which the 

 present is simply a New Edition, and partly because what in them 

 was worth printing then is worth printing still. Where modifica- 

 tion, more or less noticeable, is called for, attention will be directed 

 to the circumstances in notes or otherwise. 



V 



