PREFACE 



As the result of long experience the author has ccme to the 

 conclusion that there is a need for a guide to British 

 Birds at once more simple and more ready than any yet 

 published. 



After various experiments the plan adopted in this 

 book was decided upon, viz. first to arrange the descriptions 

 so that in the case of each bird the same characteristics 

 (colour, flight, haunts, &c.) always follow one another in 

 the same order ; and then to divide the descriptions into 

 vertical columns, so that the observer can, by looking 

 down any one column, run through the different descriptions 

 of any particular feature until he comes to one which 

 corresponds to what he has observed. 



In practice, therefore, the book has two uses. In the 

 first place it presents in a compact and orderly form a 

 brief description of each bird, by means of which the 

 inquirer can readily ascertain what features to look for 

 when endeavouring to see any particular species. In 

 the second place and this is the special feature of the 

 book an observer who has seen a bird he does not know 

 has only to make a mental note of its most pronounced 

 characteristic (e.g. a black cap), and then to look down the 

 corresponding vertical column of the guide (in this instance 

 column " Colour head ") until he comes to a bird which 



