BIRDS IN A CORNISH VILLAGE 



TAKING STOCK OF THE BIRDS 



HAVING begun, or first written, this book in one 

 village, which was near London, I am now finishing, 

 or re-writing, it in another in " the westest part 

 of all the land," over three hundred miles from the 

 first. Here I had to go over this ancient work of 

 twenty-three years ago, which was also my first 

 English bird book, to prepare it for a new edition ; 

 and after all necessary corrections, omissions and 

 additions of fresh matter made in the foregoing 

 parts, it seemed best to throw out the whole of the 

 concluding portion, which dealt mainly with the 

 question of bird-preservation as it presented itself 

 at that time and is now out of date, thanks to the 



legislation of recent years and to the growth in this 

 P 227 



