viii A HISTORY OF BIRDS 



serve my needs. Furthermore, I have written, not for the 

 expert but rather for those who, like myself, have a keen love 

 of birds— but who have so far had no opportunity of studying 

 them from this point of view. 



My friends being all busy men I have not dared to trouble 

 them with appeals for help in my self-imposed task, but I am 

 deeply indebted to Professor J. Arthur Thomson for help in 

 laying the foundations, and to Mr. H. Eliot Howard for kindly 

 criticism on my work in the course of its progress. 



For many of the illustrations in these pages I am indebted 

 to the courtesy of the Council of the Zoological and Linnean 

 Societies, and of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 My thanks are also due to Mr. A. J. Bishop, Dr. Bumpus, Mr. 

 J. G. Millais, Mr. A. R. Momber, the Hon. Walter Rothschild, 

 Major Trevelyan, Miss E. L. Turner, and to Messrs. Black, 

 Jack, Sotheran and Rowland Ward. Finally, I desire to accord 

 my best thanks to my friend Mr. G. E. Lodge for his splendid 

 interpretation of the themes illustrated by his brush ; these have 

 never before been so vividly and realistically handled, and they 

 should do much to bring home the lesson they are designed to 

 teach. 



W. P. PYCRAFT 



London 



November, 1909 



