PREFACE 



In this volume of the " Cambridge Natural History " the author 

 has attempted to meet a need which he believes to be some- 

 what widely felt. Kecognising the fact that there is at the 

 present time an abundance of popular, or only slightly scien- 

 tific, works on Birds, some of which touch but superficially upon 

 the individual species composing the various groups, as regards 

 their plumage or habits, while others pay little or no attention 

 to correctness of Classification, he has essayed the difficult and 

 apparently uuattempted task of including in some six hundred 

 pages a short description of the majority of the forms in many of 

 the Families, and of the most typical or important of the innumer- 

 able species included in the"' large Passerine Order. Prefixed to 

 each group is a brief summary of the Structure and Habits ; a 

 few further particulars of the same nature being subsequently 

 added where necessary, with a statement of the main Fossil forms 

 as yet recorded. 



Thus it is hoped that the work may be of real use, not only 

 to the tyro in Ornithology, but also to the traveller or resident 

 in foreign parts interested in the subject, who, without time or 

 opportunity for referring to the works of specialists, may yet need 

 the aid of a concise account of the species likely to cross his path. 



An introductory chapter has been written, to meet the claims 

 of the present day, on the external and to a limited extent on 

 the internal structure of Birds, with short paragra^ihs on Classi- 



