PREFACE. 
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 cireumstances 
whatever. 
In the next place, the attempt has been made to distinguish at 
once between the rare or casual visitors, and such as are really 
pflenizergh the Land, whether for a few weeks or months annually, 
or ‘by unbroken habitation. 
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But the principal object and intention of the book is to present 
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