viii PREFACE 



not been my intention to write a treatise on that 

 subject. I do not presume to pose as a naturalist, 

 but merely as a lover of Nature, and as such it 

 is my desire to attract the attention of others to 

 the many objects of interest around them which 

 they may have hitherto disregarded, and thus, it 

 may be, help them to care for and love them. 

 With this purpose in view, I have abstained from 

 adhering to any recognized arrangement or order. 

 In describing the plumage of birds, their measure- 

 ments, etc., I have had recourse to the works of 

 the best authorities on such subjects, and I have 

 endeavoured to make the description as brief and 

 simple as possible, in order to assist the reader 

 to readily identify a specimen without the neces- 

 sity of having to wade through one more lengthy. 



I have referred to but a few of the commoner 

 wild-flowers merely those which are more inter- 

 esting by reason of some legend attaching to them, 

 or the supposed or real possession of some special 

 medicinal virtue most of which may be found 

 growing either by the roadside or in the fields of 

 nearly every county. 



I have devoted but comparatively few pages 

 to 'British Field Sports,' not by reason of any 

 indifference to them, but because they form the 

 subject of so many volumes at the present day 



