viii Preface. 



Game Birds has been published in the 

 interval, and therefore, in my account of 

 habits, my readers will recognise many 

 familiar quotations from the above work, 

 and from Dr. Jerdon's ever fresh and 

 interesting articles. In writing of any 

 large group of birds, no author can be 

 expected to have a personal acquaintance 

 with more than a mere fraction of 

 the members composing it, and all he 

 can do is to quote the best available 

 notes regarding them. 



I have derived so much information 

 from the works of the above-mentioned 

 authors, and from Mr. Ogilvie Grant's 

 Catalogue, that it has been impossible for 

 me to acknowledge such information 

 separately in each particular instance. I 

 can only express my great obligations now 

 in a general way. 



I have again had the privilege of carry- 

 ing on my studies in the bird-rooms of 

 the British Museum. The national 

 collection of birds now contains nearly 

 four hundred thousand specimens, of 



