PREFACE. 



THE following pages deal with bird-life under 

 many aspects and in various lands. Notwith- 

 standing this latter fact, I have no hesitation in 

 saying that the chapters dealing with a more 

 cosmopolitan ornithology appeal even to the 

 reader whose researches embrace British birds 

 alone. No student of ornithology can well confine 

 his work to the birds of a single region, or even of 

 many regions ; for he will invariably find that the 

 deeper he attacks his subject the wider he will have 

 to roam. This applies not only to affinities, but 

 to habits and instincts as well. I am heartily glad 

 to see a growing taste for this wider study amongst 

 British naturalists, especially in the younger genera- 

 tion ; it is a healthy sign, and will serve to place 

 the work of the future on a sound foundation. 



More particularly would I like to call the atten- 

 tion of the reader to the chapter on the Ornithology 



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