iy PREFACE. 



has been left to the present generation of ornithologists to 

 recognise the full value of the varied and original work done 

 by the last named naturalist. Not that I should wish by writing 

 thus to de'ract for one moment from the worth of Yarrell's 

 publications, for, had his work been anything but excellent, 

 it would have been impossible, even for so good an editor 

 as Professor Newton, to have founded on it that fourth 

 edition to which English ornithologists owe so much. As 

 completed by Mr. Howard Saunders, this edition of Yarreli's 

 "British Birds " stands pre-eminent among the works on the 

 sucject. 



There are many of us st'll living who remeti ber the enthu- 

 siasm with which John Gould set about the production of that 

 magnificent series of volumes on the " Birds of Great Britain," 

 with which his rame will for ever be connected. The letter- 

 press may be ordinary, as nv ch of it is, but no one can fail 

 to apprecia'e the loving care wh ; ch must have animated the 

 author in the production of the illustrations, and no country 

 in the world can boast a finer presentment of its native birds 

 than is to be found in the figures of Gould's work. 



One of the most valuable contributions to the history of our 

 British birds published of late years is the " Manual " of Mr. 

 Howard Saunders, a model of condensation and an epitome of 

 useful information concerning the Avi-fauna of Great Brita'n ; 

 but there is still another work on the birds of Great Britain 

 which we have to notice Mr. Seebohm's four volumes on 

 " British Birds." The constant use which I have made of my 

 late friend's writings in the course of the present volume, is the 

 best testimony if further testimony be needed to the opinion 

 I have often expressed as to the excellence of Mr. Seebohm's 

 work. I have no hesitation in repeating that, since the 

 days of Macgillivray, no such original descriptions of the 

 life-history of European birds have been published in any 



