PREFACE. Vll 



as well as for a certain degree of similarity, which 

 perhaps may be traced in some parts of the book 

 to passages which occur in the Natural History of 

 Selborne. It is not thought that this last circum- 

 stance will render the public less favourable to the 

 undertaking ; or that a work like the present will be 

 the less welcomed from the fact of several other 

 works, equally indebted for their origin to that of 

 White's, having already appeared at different times. 

 The works alluded to can scarcely be said to be 

 altogether upon the same plan as this one; and if 

 they had been, works of this kind can hardly be mul- 

 tiplied too much, so long as the observations they 

 contain are trustworthy and original. 



Neither is the value of such works necessarily 

 limited by the degree of importance which may be 

 attached to these observations. The author is aware 

 that many of the observations here brought forward, 

 have little in them that is either likely to attract the 

 notice of the experienced naturalist, or calculated 

 materially to promote the advancement of any de- 

 partment of the science of which they treat. Never- 

 theless, he conceives, that they may not be, on the 

 whole, without interest ; or unacceptable to such 

 young persons as are likely to be readers of the 

 Natural History of Selborne, to which work the 

 present may be considered as a companion. He is 

 disposed to hope that this volume may also have its 

 influence in tending to increase the number of 

 observers ; that it may help to put those, who are 

 much abroad, or who are otherwise favourably cir- 

 cumstanced in this respect, into the way of collecting, 



