INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



TO 



PART I. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the innumerable books on British birds, an 

 up-to-date Handbook containing reliable information, so arranged 

 as to be easily accessible, seems to be required. It is this require- 

 ment that we endeavour to meet in this book. Our aim has been 

 to produce a work of real practical utility not only to the professed 

 ornithologist, but also to the beginner. 



The plan of the book may here be briefly explained. 



KEYS TO THE ORDERS, FAMILIES AND GENERA. Identification by 

 the Keys alone must never be attempted they are intended as 

 guides to identification, and not as means of identification. If 

 used conscientiously in conjunction with the characters given 

 more fully under each ORDER, FAMILY, and GENUS, they will, we 

 believe, prove of real practical use and, it may be suggested, of 

 some educational value. It must always be borne in mind, however, 

 that the greater systematic divisions are chiefly founded upon 

 anatomical characters, most of which the ordinary student of 

 birds cannot appreciate. Consequently many of the characters 

 used in the Keys (especially the Key to the Orders) are super- 

 ficial and have been chosen merely for purposes of differentiation. 



KEYS TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES. These give only salient 

 characters, which may not be always well marked in every 

 individual. These Keys must not be relied upon alone for certain 

 identification, but must be used as a guide to the description 

 and " characters " sections. 



NAMES OF SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES. A binomial appellation for 

 each species is given in large black type. In cases in which a 



