Vlll PREFACE. 



I was not aware of the magnitude and difficulty 

 of the work I had undertaken. As Professor 

 Schlegel remarked to me in one of his letters, 

 "A History of the Birds of Europe is a very 

 different thing now from what it would have been 

 ten years ago." This of course arises from the 

 great extension of ornithology as a science, and a 

 more general study of the avi-fauna of different 

 countries, especially of those which impinge upon 

 the other great divisions of the world — the border 

 districts of Africa and Asia. 



Having, however, fairly engaged in my work, I 

 was determined not to be discouraged, but to carry 

 out the scheme to a successful issue. This I 

 have done. How, it must be for others, not me to 

 say. I am quite conscious of my own shortcomings, 

 but I have at least, I think, accomplished a work 

 which will be useful to my brother naturalists, and 

 not entirely without influence in promoting the 

 advancement of European ornithology. 



The arrangement which I have adopted — that 

 of Temminck — has been objected to by some of 

 my friends. But upon this subject I think very 

 strongly. My opinion is, that the tendency of 

 many modern writers in Natural Science has been 

 to complicate a very simple subject by an over- 

 refinement in arrangement — by making too many 

 genera out of species — and thus crowding our works 

 with a long, series of names, which may be perfect 

 in their origin and application, but are, in my 



