4 
PREFACE. 
' Birds of Song/ ^ Birds of Prey/ and ' Grame and 
Water Birds/ were the titles fixed on for our three 
volumes, as best expressing the nature of their con- 
tents. In the last of these it has been necessary 
to include a far greater number of species than are 
contained in either of the other volumes. But, on 
the whole, we venture to hope that we have pro- 
duced a work on British Birds suitable for popular 
reading, containing as much information as the space 
permitted, and that of a kind not calculated to 
mislead* 
