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151 
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PREFACE. 
The present volume, concluding the Birds of Ireland, contains 
descriptions of all the web-footed or swimming species (Nata- 
tores). These include the swans, geese, ducks; divers, auks, 
cormorants, gannets ; terns, gulls, and petrels. 
If a want of generalization of the facts contained in these 
volumes be objected to, it should be remembered, as stated in 
the preface to the first volume, that they are merely put forward 
as supplementary to several works on the Birds of England and 
Scotland, in all of which generalization will be found, though 
not invariably based on sufficient data. The author of the pre- 
sent volumes considered it better to content himself with pub- 
lishing the facts, as a contribution of materials for that purpose, 
rather than attempt to generalize on insufficient grounds. 
The detail he feels must often be wearisome to those not 
specially interested in the subject, or who do more than 
refer to one species at a time. It was never imagined by the 
author that the work would be read continuously by any indi- 
vidual ; it was drawn up simply as one of reference, and hence 
pains were not taken to render the style more flowing, or to 
free it from the constant impediments to an even course of 
