INTRODUCTION. 



fireside : \vhile the sheep and goat afford information respect- 

 ing the numerous class of ruminating animals, which inhabit 

 parched deserts, or the precipitous regions of rocks and moun- 

 tains. 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, about 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 hedgerow, may prove the prolific source 

 of delightful interest and information ; for a trifling atten- 

 tion will enable an observer 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 inexhaustible 

 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 different 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 

 discoverable ; a circumstance which enables us to treat more 

 briefly the particular history of their several subdivisions. 



