A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



more minute — than that which our predecessors had to do. It is for 

 us to accumulate masses of minor facts relating to the habits, movements 

 and economy of birds, to serve as material out of which may in time be 

 evolved some definite knowledge of the migration of birds — a subject we 

 as yet know very little about. 



Of the movements, and even the relative abundance in the county, 

 of one class of birds — the waders, usually lumped together as ' sand- 

 pipers ' — we are almost entirely ignorant ; and the few, like myself, who 

 would gladly pay more attention to them, have next to no opportunities 

 for doing so. So far, as Lord Lilford has said before me, our county is 

 only half observed ; we want definite facts recorded every year (authenti- 

 cated, in the case of birds with which the observer is not personally well 

 acquainted, by specimens), and we want observations from every part of 

 the county, and especially from the larger preserved estates, from very 

 few of which I have at present reports sent to me. 



The literature bearing on the subject of Northamptonshire birds is, 

 as Lord Lilford says, very meagre. Morton's Natural History of North- 

 amptonshire (17 1 2) entitles him to be looked upon as the Gilbert White 

 of our county. Baker's History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire (1822- 

 30) contains a few references to the subject. In addition. Lord Lilford's 

 Birds of Northamptonshire and Neighbourhood, published, practically, in three 

 editions (1880-83, 1893, and 1895, but the first two imperfect, and only 

 printed for private circulation), with a few papers in the Journal of the 

 Northamptonshire Natural History Society (those by Lord Lilford were 

 mostly printed in duplicate in the Zoologist) and a few scattered notices 

 in the Zoologist and Field, constitute the whole literature of the subject. 



To Lord Lilford's work I must acknowledge my immense indebted- 

 ness, without the help of which, with my limited personal opportunities, 

 the adequate performance of the present undertaking would have been 

 impossible. 



When a bird is hereinafter described as a ' resident,' I desire it to 

 be understood as defining the species to be resident, though the individuals 

 are probably all to some extent migratory. A ' winter visitor ' is a 

 bird that appears with some regularity during the autumn, and makes 

 a stay, only modified by the vicissitudes of weather, until some time in 

 the following spring. 



It will be observed that I have excluded several species mentioned 

 by Lord Lilford, but a reference to his pages will show that they occurred 

 outside the boundaries of our county. 



In cases where the record of a bird's occurrence is open to doubt, 

 or its appearance is due to artificial introduction, the entry is placed 

 within square brackets. 



Brackets placed round the name of the original describer of a 

 species indicate that he did not employ the generic name which is now 

 adopted. 



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