PREFACE 
HERE are hosts of people who have a genuine love of 
our native birds without yearning to possess their 
skins, or desiring to acquire the reputation of being 
‘“‘ Ornithologists.” They would call them all by name 
if they could, but seek, alas! in vain, for some book 
wherein they will find some magic phrase which will enable 
them to identify every bird they meet by the wayside. 
Most of our native birds have learnt that ‘ discretion is 
the better part of valour,’ when in the neighbourhood of 
Man. Hence one gets but too often no more than a fleeting 
glance at their retreating forms, which, from frequent en- 
counters, have become familiar, yet they leave no more than 
a vague image in the memory. ‘“‘ What bird was that? I 
have often seen it but have never succeeded in taking it 
unawares.” This is a question, and its comment, often 
put to me. 
Those who are in this quandary, and they are many, are 
always hoping to find some book which will enable them to 
correctly name the retreating forms. That book will never 
be written. In the following pages an attempt is made to 
aid such inquirers, and at the same time the difficulties of 
the task are pointed out. 
It is hoped, however, that this attempt will find a welcome 
among those for whom it is made. If it helps them to under- 
stand something, at least, of the absorbing and fascinating 
problems which the study of flight in the animal kingdom 
presents, it will at least have served some useful purpose. 
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