viii GENERAL PREFACE 



Numerous pens have been engaged dur- 

 ing the last few years on the subject of fly 

 fishing, but the editors feel sure that the 

 volume by Sir Edward Grey, with which the 

 Haddon Hall Library opens, will not be re- 

 garded by anglers as superfluous. Gardens 

 and gardening, too, are to be treated of, 

 and will again receive the attention of one 

 who has never yet failed to enrich English 

 literature when he has taken up his pen to 

 write on the well-loved theme. 



Much indignation has been aroused of 

 late years by the destruction of wild crea- 

 tures often wrongly classed as vermin by 

 game preservers and keepers, and as this is 

 a subject which will no doubt be touched 

 upon in one or two volumes of the Had- 

 don Hall Library, I take the opportunity 

 of saying a few words about it. The 

 wisdom and humanity of preserving Eng- 

 lish wild birds are becoming very gener- 

 ally admitted, and I am glad to think that 

 from time to time steps have been, and 



