V.F.MAUDi:, 



.RECTORY, 



BVRWASII. 



INTRODUCTION 



An anxious wish to add a portion, however humble, to- 

 wards the illustration of those glorious works from which I 

 have myself derived such abundant pleasure, together with a 

 desire to impart to others a portion of that pleasure, led to the 

 production of the present work ; and however deficient in its 

 accomplishment, should it be the means of turning the atten- 

 tion of any one to this, or any other branch of Natural His- 

 tory, my object will have been fully gained ; and I shall have 

 the happiness of knowing, that I have been partly the means 

 of adding many a bright hour to their lives ; feeling, as I do, 

 firmly convinced, that next to those pleasures to be derived 

 from religion, and the discharge of its various duties, there is 

 no pursuit so calculated to impart pure sensations of pleasure, 

 and to elevate the mind. There is not a pursuit which diffuses 

 the same serenity over the feelings, which soothes us in the 

 hour of trouble, and which, when other pleasures flit away, 

 continues to afford undiminished enjoyment to the last. For 

 my own part, that taste for Natural History which I have 



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