VI PREFACE. 



the labours of those sapient engineers, who once attempted to stay 

 the rapids of the Shannon by a barrier of mud. 



I have to report an increased sale during the past half-year ; and 

 it is to me a source of peculiar satisfaction to find that the sale of 

 the earlier volumes continues also to increase : this is contrary to the 

 usual fate of periodicals, the earlier numbers of which almost inva- 

 riably remain a dead weight on the hands of the proprietor, until they 

 are eventually sold at a price scarcely equivalent to that of waste 

 paper. So different is the case with ' The Zoologist,' that it is 

 deemed expedient to increase the price of the first and second 

 volumes : but of this change sufficient notice will be given upon the 

 wrappers of the monthly numbers, to allow of the present subscribers 

 purchasing them at the original price. 



The circulars to which allusion was made in my last address, have 

 been extensively distributed, and I have every reason to hope with a 

 beneficial result ; but the early period at which this volume is com- 

 pleted, prevents my making any report of the sale for the current 

 half-year. 



It is a source of peculiar gratification to me to observe the interest 

 taken in this work, both in France and Belgium. I consider that 

 the observations which record the movements and habits of British 

 birds of passage, when absent from our islands, are particularly valu- 

 able and interesting; and that the thanks of British ornithologists 

 are especially due to MM. Duval-Jouve and Deby, for their papers 

 on this subject. 



EDWARD NEWMAN 



9, Devonshire Street, Bishopsgate, 

 October, 1845. 



