VI INTRODUCTION. 



work, so far as I am aware, has yet been pub- 

 lished upon any branch of the Zoology of Mid- 

 dlesex. 



To write the complete Natural History of a 

 county is an undertaking for which few can find 

 time, even if they possess the necessary qualifi- 

 cations ; but by a division of labour the task 

 becomes not only lightened, but more perfectly 

 executed ; and it has been with a view of contri- 

 buting towards a Natural History of Middlesex that 

 I have ventured to publish these notes on birds. 



I do not profess to be a scientific Ornithologist, 

 according to the modern acceptation of the term, that 

 is to say, I neither understand nor take an interest 

 in the endless and complicated subgenera, and other 

 fanciful divisions, which some naturalists adopt ; 

 but I am an ardent lover of the study of the habits 

 and manners of birds, and of the wonderful adapta- 

 tion of their structure to those habits. With this 

 love of the feathered race, and the advantage of 

 constant observation owing to a continued residence 

 in the country, I have endeavoured to note down 

 such particulars, gleaned during my rambles, as 

 may enable a stranger to form a good notion of 



