>dii PREFACE. 



British birds without quoting from him. No one 

 has taken the pains that Mr. Seebohm took, 

 before writing his " History of British Birds," 

 to travel into all parts of Europe, and even into 

 Siberia, to learn something about the nesting- 

 habits of the rarer species of European birds ; and, 

 with the exception of those of Naumann and 

 Macgillivray, there is no work so full of original 

 observation as the above-mentioned one of Mr. 

 Seebohm. In America there are several excellent 

 books on the habits of birds, and the observations 

 of Captain Bendire in his " Life History of North 

 American Birds," and those of Mr. W. H. Hudson 

 on South American Bird -life, are amongst the 

 most important of modern contributions to our 

 knowledge of Natural History. 



In these little essays, therefore, I have not 

 hesitated to draw upon the information published 

 by those who have seen these rare species in 

 their native haunts, and I have quoted freely from 

 the writings of Lord Lilford, Canon Tristram, 

 Colonel Irby, Mr. Howard Saunders, and others, 

 but it is to Mr. Seebohm that I am especially 

 indebted. I have also striven to give these 

 chapters a wider scope, and have said a few 



