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PREFACE. 
The principal objects that the Author of the following pages 
had in view in presenting them to the Public, were, in the first 
place, to complete, as far as lay in his power, the series of wood- 
cuts of British Birds begun by the late Thomas Bewick of New- 
castle, thus enabling those, to whom it may not be convenient to 
purchase the more splendid but at the same time expensive 
Illustrations, to possess, at a moderate cost, a series of wood- 
cuts, accompanied with descriptions of the birds of their native 
country, from which they will be able to recognise any that may, 
at any time, fall into their hands. Secondly, to present his 
readers with a complete List of British Birds, with the synonyms 
of the principal authors on ornithology, in as concise and simple 
a form as possible, discarding from it all those species that 
appear to have been introduced from foreign countries. He has, 
however, appended to it separate catalogues of those birds, 
which, although they are not indigenous, are now found com- 
monly in either a domesticated or half-wild state, (as the Cravat 
Goose, Mute Swan,) and have been turned out to become as wild 
as the Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge, or have escaped from 
confinement, as the Trumpeter. And, finally, a list of those 
that appear to have been introduced into the British Fauna on 
too slight grounds, and require further confirmation of their 
occurrence or identity. With regard to introduced species, it 
