VI PREFACE. 



Heaven-planted love of birds and butterflies, roses and honeysuckles : 

 the lisping infant gathering buttercups and daisies bears its testimony 

 to the force of this instinctive impulse, which always, when un- 

 checked, l( grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength." 



I have said that the present volume exceeds those which have 

 preceded it in interest and value : the merit of this improvement is 

 entirely due to my contributors ; my own labours have been even 

 lighter than heretofore, and my communications, in almost every 

 instance, have emanated from observations made by my friends. 

 Although the merit of the present volume does not consist so 

 much in the discovery of novelties as in the continuous stream of 

 observations on well-known species, yet, in accordance with custom, 

 I shall assign to the novelties the most prominent place. 



In Mammalia, we have the occurrence of a new Bat, supposed to 

 be Vespertilio pruinosus ; it was caught by some people digging pota- 

 toes in the island of South Ronaldsha; and Mr. Wolley, the gentle- 

 man who communicated the fact (Zool. 2343), seems content to regard 

 the species as purely North -American, although he does not attempt 

 to account for its presence in the Orkneys : the subject requires more 

 minute investigation. 



Many months ago I mentioned the occurrence of a Seal (Zool. 1870) 

 in the Orwell river, which was supposed to belong to a species pre- 

 viously unknown in Britain. Mr. Ransome, whose zeal for Natural 

 History has been laudably displayed in founding the Ipswich Museum, 

 has most kindly forwarded me drawings and admeasurements of this 

 unique specimen, together with the information that the skull has 

 been submitted to Professor Owen, who pronounces it to be that of 

 the Crested Seal (Phoca cristata, Zool. 2380). 



In Birds, five additions have been made to the number of species 

 occurring in the British Isles. One of these has hitherto been es- 

 teemed East Indian, three North American, and one European : their 

 respective claims to a place in our catalogue must be adjudicated 



