4 INTRODUCTION. 



sheep and goat afford information respecting the numerous 



class of ruminating animals, which inhahit parched deserts, 



or the precipitous regions of rocks and mountains. But in 



the class of Birds the case is different: many, it is true, and 



perhaps some of the most singular as well as most heautiful, 



are seldom accessible; hut of those which meet us at every 



turn, which cheer our solitary walk with their song, or display 



before us their various instincts and prominent occupations, 



the number is immense. Of about one hundred and twenty 



genera, about half are to be met with in this country, and 



frequently under circumstances favourable for ascertaining 



their habits and modes of life. Every field and garden, 



every tree and hedge-row, may prove the prolific source of 



delightful interest and information; for a trifling attention 



will enable an observer to distinguish, when on the wing, 



high in mid-air, or flitting from spray to spray, the genus to 



which every species belongs. In short, not a day passes but 



a lover of nature may record in his journal, anecdotes and 



hints from whence a store of practical knowledge may be 



derived. In the country, an acquaintance with the feathered 



creation is like the acquisition of another sense, limited by 



neither season nor situation; their periodical journeys to 



and from regions far remote, their mysterious and wonderful 



instincts adapted to their respective situations, are all sources 



of inexhaustible interest. The spring, the summer, the 



autumn, and the winter, have each their corresponding 



interests. There is, moreover, a remarkable uniformity 



amongst Birds, which does not exist in Quadrupeds ; for 



instance, a lion and an armadillo, a giraffe or a mole, are as 



different as living creatures can be conceived to be ; but in 



Birds, excepting in size, and the natural division between the 



land and water families, a greater similarity is discoverable; 



a circumstance which enables us to treat more briefly the 



particular history of their several subdivisions. 



