INTRODUCTION. 
5 
song, or display before us their various instincts and 
prominent occupations, the number is immense. Of 
about one hundred and twenty genera, above half 
are to be met with in this country, and frequently 
under circumstances favourable for ascertaining their 
habits and modes of life. Every field and garden, 
every tree and hedge-row, may prove the prolific 
source of delightful interest and information ; for a 
trifling attention will enable an observer to distin- 
guish, when on the wing, high in mid air, or flitting 
from spray to spray, the genus to which every 
species belongs. In short, not a day passes but a 
lover of nature may record in his journal, anecdotes 
and hints from whence a store of practical know- 
ledge may be derived. . In the country, an acquaint 
ance with the feathered creation is like the acqui- 
sition of another sense, limited by neither season 
nor situation; their periodical journeys to and from 
regions far remote, their mysterious and wonderful 
instincts, adapted to their respective situations, are 
all sources of inexhaustible interest. The spring, 
the summer, the autumn, and the winter, have each 
their corresponding interests. There is, moreover, 
a remarkable uniformity amongst Birds, which does 
not exist in Quadrupeds ; for instance, a lion and an 
armadillo, a giraffe or a mole, are as different as 
living creatures can be conceived to be ; but in 
Birds, excepting in size, and the natural division 
between the land and water families, a greater 
similarity is discoverable; a circumstance which 
enables us to treat more briefly the particular his- 
tory of their several subdivisions. 
