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PREFACE. 



FEW who have studied the literature of British 

 Zoology can have failed to remark the gap which 

 exists between Owen's " British Fossil Mammals and 

 Birds," and Bell's " British Quadrupeds ;" the former 

 dealing chiefly with prehistoric remains, the latter 

 with species which are still existing. 



Between these two admirable works a connecting 

 link, as it were, seems wanting in the shape of a 

 history of such animals as have become extinct in 

 Britain within historic times, and to supply this is the 

 aim of the present writer. 



Of the materials collected, during many years of 

 research, some portion has been already utilized in a 

 Lecture delivered by the author before the " Hert- 

 fordshire Natural History Society," in October, 1879, 

 and in several articles in the Popular Science Eeview 

 and the natural history columns of The Field. 



The exigencies of time and space, however, neces- 



* Popular Science Eeview, 1878, pp. 53, 141, 251, 396; and The Field, 

 ^879 : Sept. 27 ; Oct. 4, 1 1 ; Nov. i, 8, 29 ; Dec. 20 and 27. 



