PREFACE. 



THE principal objects that the Author of the following pages 

 had in view in presenting them to the Public, were, in the first 

 place, to complete, as far as lay in his power, the series of wood- 

 cuts of British Birds begun by the late Thomas Bewick of New- 

 castle, thus enabling those, to whom it may not be convenient to 

 purchase the more splendid but at the same time expensive 

 Illustrations, to possess, at a moderate cost, a series of wood- 

 cuts, accompanied with descriptions of the birds of their native 

 country, from which they will be able to recognise any that may, 

 at any time, fall into their hands. Secondly, to present his 

 readers with a complete List of British Birds, with the synonyms 

 of the principal authors on ornithology, in as concise and simple 

 a form as possible, discarding from it all those species that 

 appear to have been introduced from foreign countries. He has, 

 however, appended to it separate catalogues of those birds, 

 which, although they are not indigenous, are now found com- 

 monly in either a domesticated or half-wild state, (as the Cravat 

 Goose, Mute Swan,) and have been turned out to become as wild 

 as the Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge, or have escaped from 

 confinement, as the Trumpeter. And, finally, a list of those 

 that appear to have been introduced into the British Fauna on 

 too slight grounds, and require further confirmation of their 

 occurrence or identity. With regard to introduced species, it 



