PREFACE. 



THE substance of the following pages originally ap- 

 peared in the well-known natural history columns of the 

 Field newspaper, during the years 1865-6 and 7. They 

 were fortunate in attracting considerable attention, and 

 in eliciting from numerous readers a wish for their 

 separate publication. 



With some diffidence I now comply with that desire, 

 for my little work makes no pretension to be an exhaus- 

 tive history of the birds it treats upon, but is a simple 

 record of the results of twenty years' observations in a 

 district of great natural interest. My occupations took 

 me much out of doors, and I omitted no opportunity of 

 jotting down every fact that came under my notice, that 

 might bear on the life-history of our feathered friends. 

 Some of my notes are but bare records of the occurrence 



