PREFACE. 



p* ii ^ HE present volume finishes my account of the 



cage-birds imported into the European bird 



11. markets, and is, so far as I have been able to 



make it, complete up to the end of the year 



1908. In the case of the Doves and some other groups, 



I believe it to be complete up to the end of 1909. It 



represents, in fact, a series of monographs of known 



cage-birds, any one of which, if printed in large type 



and illustrated fully by scientifically correct coloured 



plates, would form a handsome volume. 



In the preparation of the present work I have spared 

 no trouble in indicating the affinities of the various 

 groups, as worked out 'by systematic ornithologists, 

 feeling that hitherto aviculturists generally have given 

 technical workers too much cause to accuse them of 

 apathy respecting what has been regarded by many as 

 the scientific side of ornithological study. As a matter 

 of fact, the study of bird-life is every whit as scientific 

 as that of the classification of birds, and for one sec- 

 tion of workers to look down upon and ignore the 

 labours of the other is the height of folly, and exposes 

 all who indulge in such an attitude to the charge of 

 wilful ignorance. Before leaving this subject, I feel 

 bound to call attention to the incalculable mischief 

 which is being done to science by the misguided efforts 

 being continually made by short-sighted agitators to 

 hinder the work of aviculturists under the cloak of 

 humanitarianism. 



Bird protection, in so far as it puts a stop to the shoot- 

 ing down of every rare bird which approaches our 

 shores, or to the wicked slaughter of sea-birds by 

 trippers with guns, and more particularly in its efforts 

 to put a stop to the iniquitous traffic in bird skins and 

 plumes for the adornment of hate and ibonnets, is an 

 excellent institution ; but when, not content with this 

 good work, it strives to do away with the study of 

 birds in cage and aviary, it becomes at once an evil 

 thing for which posterity will have just cause to curse 

 its advocates. 



Bird-life can only be partially studied by the field 

 naturalist owing to the skulking nature of many birds, 



and their amazing cunning in, not only concealing their 

 nests, but in enticing the investigator from the neigh- 

 bourhood of the same ; of such birds the habits can only 

 be studied in aviaries, and any seeker after self-adver- 

 tisement who strives to prevent such means of acquiring 

 knowledge is an offender both against God and man, 

 and deserving of the severest punishment. 



In the twenty chapters I have treated of the fol- 

 lowing groups of birds : New- and Old-world Starlings, 

 Bower-birds, Paradise-birds, Manucodee, Crowe, eo- 

 called Piping Crows or Crow-Shrikes, Larks, Pittas, 

 Tyrants, Chatterers, Oven-birds, Woodpeckers, Colies, 

 Kingfishers, Motmots, Bee-eaters, Toucans, Baxbets, 

 Touracous, Parrote, and Doves. The last two groups 

 have been so extensively imported that they occupy no 

 less than thirteen of the twenty chapters in the volume. 



As before, I have endeavoured in each group to give 

 an account of the wild life, and of the food generally 

 regarded as most suitable for rendering the livee of its 

 members healthy and happy in captivity. I now pro- 

 ceed to give, as before, for the benefit of those who 

 desire to study aviculture more intimately, a list of the 

 works quoted in the present volume, most of which are 

 in my own library. 



In this and the preceding volume I have described 

 about a thousand species of cage-birds. 



A. G. BTTTLER. 



Andre, E. : A Naturalist in the Guianas. 



Andrews, C. W. : A Monograph of Christmas Island. 



Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 7, 

 Vol. XVI. 



Avicultural Magazine, The (Journal of the Avicul- 

 tural Society) : First, Second andi Third Series. 



Beebe, C. W. : Two Bird Lovers in Mexico. 



Bendire, Capt. and Major Charles : Life-Histories of 

 North American Birds (Vols. I. and II.). 



Brenchley, J. : Cruise of the "Curacoa." 



Buller, Sir Walter : Birds of New Zealand. 



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