viii PREFACE 



Green & Co., as publishers of Mr. J. G. Millais' " Surface 

 Feeding Ducks," for permission to reproduce the illustra- 

 tion which forms the frontispiece to the present volume. 

 Even more am I indebted, as these pages will prove, to 

 Miss E. L. Turner, whose name as an ornithologist and 

 bird-photographer is now so well known among students 

 of out-door bird-life. Further, I would add my thanks 

 to Prof. Arthur Thomson, Mr. A. Landesborough Thomson 

 and Dr. Soutar for their help in reading through the proofs 

 for me, and for the kindly criticism rendered during this 

 irksome task so cheerfully undertaken. Finally, I have 

 to thank Mr. Roger Ingpen for the immense amount of 

 trouble he took for me in regard to the illustrations, and 

 in the task of seeing these pages through the press. 



W. P. Pycraft. 



