PREFACE. 



THE bulk of the following Notes has already been 

 published at irregular intervals in the ' Journal of the 

 Northamptonshire Natural History Society ' from its 

 commencement in 1880 up to the end of 1893. I must 

 explain my frequent reference to various parts of the 

 world by stating that in the early years of our Society's 

 existence we had not any member but myself who had 

 devoted any special attention to ornithology, and I 

 therefore thought it well to tell all that I knew from 

 personal experience with regard to the birds of which 

 I had to treat. With reference to the scope of these 

 observations, I soon found it extremely irksome to 

 confine them strictly to the political boundaries of 

 our county, and have therefore occasionally over- 

 stepped these arbitrary limits into the bordering 

 counties of Huntingdon, Bedford, and Cambridge, 

 doing my best not to trespass into Oxfordshire, 

 Leicestershire, Rutland, or Lincolnshire, whose orni- 

 thology has been dealt with by other authors. Our 



