PREFACE. 



After five years of considerable toil and anxiety 

 I have brought this work to a conclusion, and it 

 becomes my pleasing duty to say a few words to 

 my subscribers upon some points of interest connected 

 with it. 



When I undertook to publish a "History of the 

 Birds of Europe, not Observed in the British Isles," 

 I was impressed with the value and importance 

 of such a work to all who are interested in 

 British ornithology. The birds of our own islands 

 had already been well illustrated and their histories 

 copiously written in the works of Montagu, Lewin, 

 Bewick, Selby, Macgillivray, Meyer, Yarrell, and 

 Morris, but with the exception of the splendid 

 work of Mr. Gould, there were none accessible to 

 the great mass of ornithologists upon the remaining 

 Birds or Eggs of Europe. 1 felt that this was a 

 great blank which ought to be filled up, and I 

 ventured to undertake the task. But I must 

 candidly confess that, when I consented to do this, 



