NOTE TO THIRD EDITION. 



THOUGH my knowledge of birds has naturally grown 

 fast since I wrote these chapters, I have thought it 

 better, except in one instance, to resist the temptation 

 of re-writing or interpolating for this edition. The book 

 stands almost exactly as it was when the second edition 

 was issued ; but the list of Oxford birds is omitted, as 

 Mr. Aplin's work on the Birds of Oxfordshire, shortly 

 to be published by the Clarendon Press, will embody 

 all the information there given. I regret that the 

 frontispiece, drawn for the original edition by my friend 

 Professor W. Baldwin Spencer, can no longer be 

 reproduced. 



I wish to express my thanks to Mr. B. H. Blackwell, 

 of Oxford, not only for the care and pains he bestowed 

 upon the issue of the former editions, but for the ready 

 courtesy with which he fell in with my wish to transfer 

 the book to the hands of Messrs. Macmillan. 



W. W. F. 



Jime 4, 1889. 



