INTRODUCTION, xh 
less specifically numerous, but with the exception of a very few, arrayed also in the most 
sombre livery, an inferiority however amply compensated by their superiority of song. 
| At the present time the Fauna of Europe may be fairly stated to contain four hundred and 
sixty-two species, of which three hundred and ten may be regarded as British ; of the latter 
number about one hundred and seventy are permanent residents in our islands ; eighty-five are 
summer birds of passage, visiting us from the south ; and forty-five from the north make our 
shores their winter residence. 
In our arrangement we have classed and subdivided the groups (as nearly as may be) after 
the plan proposed by Mr. Vigors. They form five volumes, the first of which comprises 
the whole of the birds of the Raptorial Order, an order containing, as implied by the name, 
the sanguinary and ferocious of the feathered race, among which are included not only the large 
tyrants of the air, the Eagles, the Falcons, the Owls, &c., which make living animals their prey ; 
but also the Vultures, which gorge upon any loathsome carrion that chance throws in their 
way. 
Our second and third volumes comprise the species contained in the second order, termed 
Insessores, or perching birds ; an extensive order, in which are included birds varying in their 
powers of flight and in their habits no less than in their food; some, like the Swallow, taking 
their insect prey on the wing, others pursuing it among the branches of trees and_ thickets ; 
others feed indifferently upon insects, their larvae, and upon grain; and others, eminently 
arboreal, (such as the Woodpeckers) search for their food among the crevices of the bark of 
trees, for which purpose they are expressly and beautifully organized. 
To these succeed the Rasorial and Grallatorial Orders, both of which are included in our 
fourth volume. The Pigeons, at the head of the Rasores, as their perching habits indicate, 
naturally lead from the last order to the more typical of the Gallinacez, which are well repre- 
sented by the Pheasant, Partridge, and Grouse, whose food and habits it is unnecessary to 
describe ; and from thence to the Grallatores, represented by the Cranes, Herons, Storks, Sand- 
pipers and Gallinules. The first of these, the Cranes, which are more granivorous in their habits, 
