xviii. 
INTRODUCTION. 
plumage, but these are matters which must be left, as a 
rule, to the works on general ornithology, such as Yarrell's 
British Birds (Gurney and Jackson, 4s.) ; Howard 
Saunders' Manual of British Birds (Gurney and Jackson, 
£\ IS.); and Johns' British Birds in their Haunts 
(S.P.C.K., 5s.). 
Perhaps, also, it may have been expected that we 
should give the exact localities of the nesting-places of 
the rarer species, but it is only too necessary, in the 
interests of the birds themselves, that we should practise 
considerable reticence on this subject. 
It is, as a rule, extremely difficult to get reliable in- 
formation of the occurrence of rare birds from any except 
those who are really interested in ornithology, and have 
considerable knowledge of it ; and the enthusiast is often 
distressed to find how many residents in the county are 
grievously ignorant of the rich and varied bird-life which 
surrounds them. 
However, we may hope that the next generation will 
show an improvement in this matter, since greater atten- 
tion is now given to Nature study in our schools, and the 
Society for the Protection of Birds (3, Hanover Square) is 
working hard in the same cause by means of lectures and 
competitions in essay-writing. 
Mention should also be made of the excellent lectures, 
on kindness to animals, given year after year by Mrs. 
Suckling in all the villages round Romsey. 
The fashion of providing birds with nesting-box«s is 
widely spread in the county. In the spring of 1897, Mr. 
Meade-Waldo had no less than seventy pairs of birds 
nesting in boxes in his garden at Boldre. The Society for 
the Protection of Birds will supply suitable nesting-boxes. 
The nomenclature adopted is that of the " Ibjs " IJst of 
