vi 
PREFACE. 
from a great variety of sources, which can hardly fail to contain some- 
thing that will be new to a majority of their readers. They are not 
intended, as will at once be seen, to usurp the place of a manual of 
zoology. They are not, and they were not meant to be, scientific. 
Their object is to gossip pleasantly about birds distinguished by the 
possession of some special character, — about birds of plumage, birds of 
prey, birds remarkable for their intelligence or their nests, birds of 
song, birds of the sea and the shore, — introducing, where appropriate, 
the descriptions of travellers, or the fancies of poets, or the associations 
of history and romance. I have followed no classification; I have 
allowed myself digressions in the freest possible manner ; and the only 
order observed, and that very loosely, is geographical. In truth, I have 
been led to and fro at the will of the artist, but for whose exquisite 
illustrations this book would never have been written. 
While I have endeavoured to make the letterpress something more 
and something better than a mere running commentary on M. Gia- 
comelli's designs, still I am aware that these, in their admirable fidelity 
to nature, their combined grace, and strength, and delicacy, constitute 
the chief claim of the present volume to the public favour. They were 
drawn and engraved expressly for it; and it is only just to say that 
artist, engraver, and printer have done their best to ensure accuracy 
and finish in every detail. And I feel that, in offering this new book 
of the Bird World to the English reader, the author may safely repose 
under the segis of the artist. My deficiencies will be forgotten as the 
reader dwells more and more delightedly on the masterpieces of 
Giacomelli. 
W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. 
