IX 
that came under liis notice was White's delight ; and rest assured 
that if we — like ^Miite — love animals (commonly called dumb 
because we cannot understand their language), we shall never 
experience the feeling of solitude. 
It has been more or less the custom to look upon White 
as purely an ornithologist ; but the attentive reader will find 
that he touches upon almost every branch of Natural History. 
The plan of tliis publication allowed me only one hundred 
and fifty pages for my notes and observations. I therefore 
determined not to write a running commentary, but to give 
anecdotes and observations which have principally come under 
my own notice, and which bear more or less on the subjects 
mentioned by White. Students of ornithology have now at 
their command so many nmseums, as well as excellent 
books on birds, that those who are fond of birds have every 
facility for learning all that is known about them up to the 
present time. 
All I beg on behalf of the wild birds is not to shoot them ; 
leave the gun at home, and take the opera -glasses and watch 
their habits. 
Foremost among the works on ornithology is the magnificent 
work on " The Bieds of Gkeat Bkitain," by John Gould, F.E.S. 
The book that I would recommend as the best and least expen- 
sive handbook for bird-fanciers and those who intend to begin 
the study of English wild and cage birds, is Bechstein's " Cage 
and Chamber Birds."^ 
In my Notes willl)e found information about birds, not copied 
1 Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. Professor Newton is 
now bringing out a new edition of Yarrell's " British Birds," Van Voorst, 
Paternoster Eow. The Eev. F. 0. Morris has published works on British 
Birds, Nests and Eggs of Birds, &c. Bickers and Bush, Leicester Square. 
Nor must I neglect to recommend the Rev. J. G. Wood's admirable work, 
" Ilhistrated Natural History," Routledge. 
