PREFACE. XV 



trative of his benevolent disposition and observant 

 habits. There were also added a series of agre- 

 ble notes, chiefly of a classical and literary cha- 

 racter, by the Rev. John Mitford, of Benhall in 

 the county of Suffolk, the author of a Life of Gray, 

 and of an Essay on his Poems, prefixed to an 

 edition of the works of that poet, published in 

 1816. 



In 1825, the "Antiquities" were again discarded, 

 and the " Natural History" with its appendages 

 resumed the octavo form, and again appeared in 

 two volumes. From this and the preceding edi- 

 tions have originated several reprints of a larger 

 or smaller portion of our author's works, (but 

 always omitting the " Antiquities,") which have 

 been edited from time to time by Sir William Jar- 

 dine and Captain Brown, whose notes and illus- 

 trations have contributed to diffuse more widely 

 the popularity of the original. 



A new edition of the entire work, in which the 

 " Antiquities" again assumed their station, ap- 

 peared in 1833 in the same form as the present, 

 under the superintendence of Mr. Rennie, who 

 added many notes of his own to those which were 

 then for the first time contributed by the Hon. and 

 Rev. W. Herbert, and to a series of observations 

 by the late Mr. Sweet on the food of soft-billed 

 birds and their treatment in captivity, a subject to 

 which the attention of that able horticulturist had 

 long been extensively and practically directed. In 

 this edition several additional sketches of local 

 scenery were introduced, from the pencil of a gen- 

 tleman who had taken great interest in the publi- 



