PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. XV 



recommend all lovers of birds to procure Professors 

 Newton and Saunders' edition of Yarrell's British Birds; 

 the edition of White's Selborne by Buckland ; Harting's 

 Summer Migrants ; Seebohm's British Birds an in- 

 valuable and most suggestive book ; and Dixon's Rural 

 Bird Life a fresh and charming work. British Birds 

 in their Haunts, by the late Rev. C. A. Johns, will 

 also well repay the reader. Other references will be 

 found in the Appendix. 



I cannot conclude without expressing my sincere gra- 

 titude to several friends who aided me in preparing my 

 little book, more especially to Thomas French, Esq., 

 Assistant Librarian, Trinity College, who gave me every 

 facility in consulting such books as Dresser, Gould, and 

 other valuable works ; to Rev. Professor Goodman, M.A., 

 for his valuable list of the Irish names of birds ; to 

 the Rev. W. W. Flemyng, M.A., Rector of Clonegam, 

 for his help with the proofs ; to Miss Massy, a skilled 

 and most accurate observer, to whom I am indebted for 

 much interesting information; and, most of all, to A. G. 

 More, Esq., F.L.S., our most accomplished ornithologist, 

 to whose kindness and courtesy, and unfailing readiness 

 to place his wide experience and unrivalled sources of 

 information at my disposal, I owe more than I can ever 

 repay. 



ELM PARK, 



February 2nd, 1886. 



