viii PREFACE. 



Dr. Mitchell's multifarious duties have put a stop 

 to further joint undertaking, but I hereby wish to 

 acknowledge my great indebtedness to him for his 

 assistance, and to express my belief that, whatever merits 

 the present work may be found to possess, they would 

 have been much greater had he been my coadjutor 

 throughout. As it is, he must not be held responsible 

 for any statements made or opinions expressed in the 

 work as it now stands. 



The illustrations are mostly from living specimens 

 now or formerly in the collection of the London Zoo- 

 logical Society, and they have been selected as far as 

 possible with a view to giving life-like representations 

 of birds belonging to families altogether unfamiliar, 

 or of unfamiliar species of well-known families, rather 

 than the repeated illustrations of well-known British 

 birds so familiar in works on general ornithology. 



FRANK FINN. 



London, 1908. 



