28 INTRODUCTION. 



habits of the feathered denizens of our fields and woods are 

 yet very imperfectly known, and the histories of most of 

 them consist merely of detached fragments. There is not 

 much difficulty in knowing the greater number of our birds 

 by sight ; but such a knowledge as a botanist has of a plant 

 is not enough, for the bird being a creature possessed of di- 

 verse faculties, has a far more complex history than a plant ; 

 and the labour bestowed on forming acquaintance with an 

 Eagle or a Peregrine Falcon, would enable one to know by 

 sight a hundred plants. 



As it may be of advantage to the student to have a com- 

 prehensive view of the number of Birds of the British Isles, 

 I shall here present them in a tabular form, according to the 

 arrangement followed in these volumes. 



