11 AUTHORS PREFACE. 



best and easiest mode of procuring them, as well as of 

 feeding and preserving them in health. Few amateurs, 

 therefore, are better fitted than myself to write on this 

 subject ; and I hope I have done it to the satisfaction of 

 the public. I ought also to notice in this place the plan 

 of my work, as my book may fall into the hands both of 

 those who might feel a wish to learn more particulars, 

 and of those who may think much less would have 

 sufficed. 



I have described all the indigenous European birds with 

 which I am acquainted that are capable of being tamed, 

 and are pleasing in the house. As to foreign ones, I have 

 only spoken of those I have occasionally seen in Germany, 

 and which can be procured without much difficulty. 



I have followed the same plan in their natural history 

 which I have pursued in my other works on birds. 



DESCRIPTION. Under this head I have entered into 

 particular details, in order that the amateur may the 

 better satisfy himself in discriminating the species and 

 the sex of the bird before him. This knowledge is ex- 

 ceedingly necessary, as the bird-dealers are not very scru- 

 pulous in deceiving their customers, either by selling one 

 species for another, or a female for a male. These descrip- 

 tions may likewise have the advantage of inspiring a taste 

 for ornithology in the bosom of a mere amateur, who may, 

 by repeated observations, afterwards enrich this branch of 

 natural history with his own remarks. 



HABITATION. On forming a wish to possess any par- 

 ticular bird, it is natural to try to discover what situations 



