LORD LILFORD ON BIRDS 



INTRODUCTION 



THOMAS LITTLETON, fourth Baron Lilford, was born in 

 1833. In 1867 he was elected President of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union, a position which he held until his 

 death, in 1896. Such, in a word, is all that need be 

 said here. For this is not a biography ; the personal 

 history of the late Lord Lilford has already been 

 written by one whose title to the task was clear. 

 That picture, built on the intimate memories of a 

 sister's affection, necessarily stands alone. 



But in the days of his travels and activity, and no less 

 in those long years in the chair of an invalid, Lord 

 Lilford acquired a large store of exact and absolute 

 knowledge, which must needs have for inquirers in the 

 same field a value too great to be missed. 



His, too, was a keen enthusiasm and a wide kindness 

 of heart ; his constant daily endeavour was to encourage 

 interest in living creatures and (quite humbly and simply) 

 to help others through what he himself had learnt. The 

 more widely could he have been helpful the better would 



