vi PREFACE. 



not as he likes. In some cases I have been obliged 

 to correct errors of identification which we occasion- 

 ally made ; and I have introduced a chapter on the 

 migration of birds, but inasmuch as this was princi- 

 pally written upon the island of Heligoland, it can 

 scarcely be looked upon as padding. 



Whatever merit the book may possess will doubt- 

 less be owing to the fact that it was for the most 

 part written upon the spot. It is a faithful tran- 

 script of a stranger's first impressions of a part of 

 Europe seldom or never visited by Englishmen, 

 written at post stations whilst the horses were 

 being changed, or in peasants' cottages, wrecked 

 ships, or wherever our temporary quarters may have 

 been. The accuracy which ornithological observa- 

 tions demand, made it imperatively necessary that 

 what was seen should be at once recorded, and many 

 a time eighteen or twenty hours' field-work have 

 been followed by two or three hours' writing before 

 we allowed ourselves rest. The general reader may 

 perhaps complain that the book is too ornithological ; 

 but he must remember that an enthusiasm of some 

 sort is necessary to lead the traveller into scenes 

 where no hotels exist, where unknown difficulties 

 have to be met, and which are absolutely virgin 

 ground to the tourist. The writer also ventures to 



