4 INTRODUCTION. 



genus, namely, the cat, which harmlessly purrs by our 

 fire-side: while the sheep and goat afford information 

 respecting the numerous class of ruminating animals, 

 which inhabit parched deserts, or the precipitous re- 

 gions of rocks and mountains. But in the class of 

 Birds the case is different : many, it is true, and perhaps 

 some of the most singular as well as most beautiful, are 

 seldom accessible ; but of those which meet us at every 

 turn, which cheer our solitary walk with their song, or 

 display before us their various instincts and prominent 

 occupations, the number is immense. Of about one 

 hundred and twenty genera, above half are to be met 

 with in this country, and frequently under circumstances 

 favourable for ascertaining their habits and modes of 

 life. Every field and garden, every tree and hedge-row, 

 may prove the prolific source of delightful interest and 

 information ; for a trifling attention will enable an ob- 

 server to distinguish, when on the wing, high in mid-air, 

 or flitting from spray to spray, the genus to which every 

 species belongs. In short, not a day passes but a lover 

 of nature may record in his journal, anecdotes and hints 

 from whence a store of practical knowledge may be 

 derived. In the country, an acquaintance with the 

 feathered creation is like the acquisition of another 

 sense, limited by neither season nor situation; their 

 periodical journeys to and from regions far remote, 

 their mysterious and wonderful instincts, adapted to 

 their respective situations, are all sources of inexhaus- 

 tible interest. The spring, the summer, the autumn, 

 and the winter, have each their corresponding interests. 

 There is, moreover, a remarkable uniformity amongst 

 Birds, which does not exist in Quadrupeds; for instance, 

 a lion and an armadillo, a giraffe or a mole, are as dif- 

 ferent as living creatures can be conceived to be; but in 

 Birds, excepting in size, and the natural division between 

 the land and water families, a greater similarity is dis- 

 coverable ; a circumstance which enables us to treat 

 more briefly the particular history of their several sub- 

 divisions. 



