PREFACE. xi 



to birds in a very marked degree. This must necessarily 

 soon put any work on Natural History more or less out 

 of date ; it is our duty to make our book as perfect as 

 possible up to the date of publication. We trust this 

 will be found a sufficient excuse for adding an Appendix 

 to contain fresh information, or information we may 

 have overlooked in the first instance. 



In several cases we may have erred in giving all the 

 notes as we received them from our correspondents. 

 But these notes were given us in good faith ; and where 

 we think there has been any likelihood of mistakes on 

 their part we have pointed them out, so that our readers 

 can form their own judgment ; and we trust our cor- 

 respondents will take these remarks in good part, and 

 not think we are criticising them in any supercilious 

 spirit. 



We are afraid our list of Fish is not altogether satis- 

 factory. We applied to several people to aid us, but the 

 information thus gleaned is very meagre. At one time 

 we contemplated leaving out the whole subject, but on 

 second thoughts we considered it better to put together 

 what notes we could get, and point out here to succeeding 

 Naturalists where fresh fields for their enterprise lay. It 

 is a subject which, though at present taken up by few, 



