PREFACE. 



IN this Work I have continued to carry out the same plan which has been employed 

 in the previous volume descriptive of the Mammalia, giving to the body of the work 

 a popular and anecdotal character, and reserving the more scientific portions for the 

 Compendium of Generic Distinctions at the end of the volume. Much pains has 

 been taken with that part of the work, for which I am in a great degree indebted 

 to the invaluable " Genera of Birds " by Dr. Gray, a work which has long established 

 itself as the standard of systematic Ornithology as at present accepted by the 

 learned world. 



The system employed, and the names that are given in this work, are those which 

 have been sanctioned by the usage of the national collection in the British Museum ; 

 and any one who wishes to study the Birds in a systematic manner can accomplish 

 his object by taking this volume to the Museum, and comparing the specimens with 

 the history of the species in the body of the work, and the characteristic distinctions 

 of the genera at its end. By means of this Table, also, any one can ascertain the 

 approximate position which any bird holds in the system of the present day. 



I must here take the opportunity of returning my best thanks to the numerous 

 individuals who have most kindly given their aid to this work, many of whom are 

 even now personally unknown to me. 



BIRDS. 



