INTRODUCTION. 
V 
judged it my indispensable duty to make, should give pain. The 
olfer to print any reply to my arguments which might be sent 
me, exculpates me, I conceive, from all charges of a personal 
nature; and it would grieve me much, if my dislike to their 
doctrines and language, has, in any instance, betrayed me to 
infringe upon the courtesy and decorum which ought uniformly 
to characterise such discussions. To enter into any compromise 
with error, would be unpardonable weakness and delinquency ; 
but to endeavour, by contempt or abuse, to hurt the feelings of 
the person judged to be in error, would exhibit the character of 
a bully or a ruffian. 
VI. The classification of Naturalists according to the character 
of their works, which closes this introduction, is an imperfect 
attempt to direct the student in his choice of books, according to 
his peculiar wants and wishes. 
VII. In the body of the work, I have made very considerable 
alterations in the arrangement. The author, in the first edition, 
seems to have aimed at giving, as far as the letters of the alphabet 
would permit, all the species of a genus together ; hence under 
Duck, we had Duck-Eider, Duck-King ; and under Gull, 
we had Gull-Herring, Gull-Laughing, &c., an unnecessary 
awkwardness, attended with no apparent advantage. The ar- 
rangement of these in a straight-forward manner, has cost no little 
trouble. In the article Warbler, again, this principle led the 
author to include birds, which are not now arranged with War- 
blers, such as the Hedge Sparrow ; and the placing of two birds 
together because they resembled each other, with the distinction 
only of greater and lesser^ served to propagate confusion. I have, 
therefore, adopted for the Petty Chaps-Greater, the conti- 
nental name Fauvette ; for the Petty Chaps-Lesser, the pro- 
vincial name Chiff-Chaff; and for the White Throat-Lesser, 
the continental name, Babillard. In many other instances, I 
have adopted the provincial name in preference to one of book 
origin, the latter often consisting of several words, and being 
therefore awkward in a Dictionary. Any supposed inconvenience 
arising from these changes, is obviated by all the known names 
being inserted in their due order in the alphabet, and also under 
