INTRODUCTION. 



THE object of this book is to enable anyone to recognise and 

 readily distinguish the birds on the British list ; and this it 

 does by a system of elimination somewhat similar to that adopted in 

 " Our Country's Flowers." 



To the beginner it is assuredly of the first importance that he should 

 know the name of the thing with which lie is dealing. Until he 

 knows that, he is unable to ascertain what is already known about it, 

 for the existing books invariably assume that he possesses this 

 preliminary knowledge. And when he knows more of his subject a 

 handy method of separating family from family, genus from genus, 

 and species from species, by a few prominent characteristics, must 

 have its advantages, if only in the saving of labour and time. 



Although our book necessarily touches on the general subject, its 

 examples are strictly limited to our country's avifauna, concerning 

 which an awkward question presents itself, which may fitly be 

 answered in this introduction. 



What is a British bird ? Strictly speaking, there is but one British 



bird, and that is the one the state of whose health is invariably 



chronicled in the newspapers on or about the 12th of August. The 



Red Grouse is the only bird peculiar to this island, and found native 



nowhere else. The rest of the birds we see around us are mostly 



characteristic of the whole Palaearctic region, stretching right away 



to Japan, while some go as far south as the Victoria Nyanza, and 



A 2 



