viii THE BRITISH BIRD BOOK 



Though these researches have made it possible to supply a large amount of 

 information not hitherto presented to English readers, the results are still far 

 from adequate. In the case of the food of the species, good use has been made 

 of Mr. R. Newstead's Food of British Birds and other works, but there has been 

 no attempt at completeness, for nothing satisfactory can be done until we are 

 in possession of that exhaustive inquiry the Board of Agriculture is understood 

 to contemplate, and for which we are still patiently waiting. 



In addition to books and periodicals already mentioned, the following are some 

 of the more important of the many general and faunal British and foreign works 

 consulted in respect to the subjects in Sections 4-6 just alluded to : the Histories of 

 Yarrell, Macgillivray, Seebohm ; Brehm's Tierleben ; the Birds of Yorkshire, 1907, by 

 Nelson, Clarke, and Boyes ; Dr. Saxby's Birds of Shetland, 1874 ; Lilford's Birds of 

 Northamptonshire, 1895 ; H. A. Macpherson, Fauna of Lakeland, 1892 ; H. Stevenson, 

 Birds of Norfolk, 1866-90 ; R. Gray, Birds of the West of Scotland, 1871 ; the 

 series of Scotch Faunas published by J. A. Harvie-Brown and others ; H. E. Forrest, 

 Fauna ofN. Wales, 1907 ; Coward, Fauna of Cheshire, 1909 ; O. V. Aplin, Birds of 

 Oxfordshire, 1889 ; N. F. Ticehurst, Birds of Kent, 1909 ; V. Fatio, Faune de la 

 Suisse, 1869 ; J. B. Bailly, Ornithologie de la Savoie, 1853-4 ; F. C. Keller, Ornis 

 Carinthiae, 1890 ; and P. Kollibay, Vogel der preussischen Provinz Schlesien, 1905. 

 These local Faunas are typical of many more that might be mentioned. 



Correspondents. That it has been possible to rill up some of the gaps in the 

 information derived from the above-mentioned sources is due to the personal 

 investigations of the writers and to the ungrudging help given by a number of 

 correspondents. 



Quotation of Sources. In order to permit the reader to verify statements 

 for which the writers of the chapters or Notes are not personally responsible, or 

 which cannot be assumed to be well known, references to the authorities are given 

 throughout. 



A complete list of the authorities, both authors and correspondents, from 

 whom information has been obtained will be found at the end of the book. It may 

 be added that no use has been made of statements that show reasonable evidence of 

 having been borrowed. 



Responsibility of the Writers. Each writer must be held solely responsible 

 for the conclusions which he bases on the facts at his disposal. In order to reduce 

 the chances of error, whether in facts or judgments, to a minimum and in a subject 

 so full of pitfalls as ornithology errors are inevitable, an arrangement was made by 



