viii Preface. 



one before us, the farther he advances the more he sees to admire, 

 the more he discovers how little he knows. Let him examine 

 the plumage of a bird let him take a single feather, and see its 

 wonderful growth, its mysterious colouring, its perfect adapta- 

 tion to the end for which it was made. What an admirable 

 defence against cold and heat, how light and buoyant ! Let him 

 examine the different methods of nidification adopted by the 

 different species ; how every species adopts a method peculiar to 

 itself, yet one which is exactly followed by all the members com- 

 prising that species. What consummate skill and ingenuity are 

 displayed in the construction of their nests ; how beautiful and 

 curious and varied are their eggs ! 



These and a thousand other such things, unnoticed by the 

 many, but discovered at every turn by the student in ornithology, 

 point out how perfect are the works of God, how varied and 

 beautiful, how exactly suited to their several positions are the 

 creatures of His hand. The contemplation of them not only 

 fills the heart with pleasure, but lifts it up in praise and adora- 

 tion to the great and bountiful Creator, whose least work so far 

 surpasses the greatest triumph of the most scientific men. 



It would occupy too much space to append a full list of my 

 very numerous correspondents on this subject ; but I shall not, 

 I hope, be misunderstood, or thought to have made an invidious 

 selection, when I am so much indebted to many, if I especially 

 enumerate some who have most materially assisted me. First 

 and foremost of these I must mention my very intimate and 

 deeply lamented friend, the Eev. George Marsh, for many years 

 Vicar of Sutton Benger, in this county, who was a thorough 

 practical ornithologist, whose ear was so accurate as to detect 

 in an instant any unwonted note in the woods or hedgerows or 

 garden; and whose knowledge of birds, from long personal 

 observation, was so profound that he seldom failed to identify 

 the feathered songster who uttered it. With every specimen in 

 his admirable collection at Sutton Benger* I was in my younger 



f This collection, at the death of its owner, passed into the possession 

 of his brother, the late Mr. Matthew Marsh, sometime M.P. for Salisbury, 



