X 
PREFACE. 
by Colonel Irby, Captain Savile Reid, and Mr. Theodore 
Walker. The same may be said of the collection of bird-skins ; 
and no one would say that Salvin, Godman, Hume, Seebohm, 
Sclater, Shelley, or Howard Saunders, were not field-natural- 
ists, because they were also “ cabinet ’’-naturalists, and had 
written important works on ornithology. Ihe same can be 
said of the ornithologists in foreign museums— of Biittikofer, 
the explorer of Liberia and Dutch Borneo ; of Reichenow, the 
traveller in Aguapim and the Canieroons j of Meyer, the 
explorer of Celebes and New Guinea ; of Hartert, the explorer 
of the Niger, of Assam, Perak, and Sumatra ; of Forbes, of 
Timor Laut and New Guinea fame ; and dozens of others could 
be mentioned. Of the American ornithologists, I believe that 
there is not one in charge of a museum that has not won his 
spurs in the field. The taunt of being “cabinet ’’-naturalist 
only falls harmless in these days, when levelled at such men 
and many others I could name. 
My opportunities for field-work may have not been many. I 
have tried to make the most of them, and I feel that this is 
true, for nearly every vacation that I have had in my life has 
been spent in the study of birds in their haunts. Nevertheless, 
there are dozens of British birds whose nests I have never 
taken, and whose haunts I have never been able to visit. My 
own small experiences have been recorded in the present work, 
but where I have not been fortunate enougli to have personal 
acquaintance with a species, 1 have given the best account 
that I could lay my hands on at the time. The space at my 
disposal has never been enough to go very deeply into the 
subject of the habits of the birds, and I have generally given 
a brief extract, taken from some well-known work, like that of 
Seebohm, or from some less-known volumes like those of 
Nelson, Elliot, Brehm, Saxby, &c. At the same time, I have 
to acknowledge the receipt of many interesting original notes 
