VI 
INTRODUCTION. 
of a thousand bees; that taste has brightened every beautiful 
object in nature, and added a zest to every pleasure. 
It is with a satisfaction unalloyed by any unpleasant feel¬ 
ings, that the lover of nature looks back upon and retraces in 
his memory the many happy hours which he has spent in the 
pursuit of his favourite object. Never shall I forget the first 
dawning of a love for nature upon my mind, as its various 
beautiful objects came crowding upon my notice—“wonders 
yet to me nor that strange feeling of delight which I have 
experienced from the capture of some long-chased butterfly, or 
the discovery of the nest of some then unknown bird. 
However unimportant in itself the branch of Natural His¬ 
tory which I have attempted to elucidate, the beautiful and 
varied objects which compose it, are amongst the first to excite 
the imagination, and call forth in boyhood those feelings, that 
love for nature, which are inherent in us all; and however the 
cares or the pleasures of after life may have erased those earlier 
feelings, there are few who have not one day derived pleasur¬ 
able emotions from their contemplation, and who do not re¬ 
member those joyous times when, at the first breaking loose 
from school, they have hastened to the wood and the hedge¬ 
row, in search of their painted prize. 
Few can have failed to notice that wonderful and all-absorb¬ 
ing feeling of anxiety, that utter disregard of self, which, during 
the breeding season, produces so remarkable a change in the 
nature of many of our birds : converting that wariness for 
which they are at other times remarkable, into the most heed¬ 
less disregard of danger. 
Numerous anecdotes are related of the devotedness of the 
Partridge, and other species of birds, in the protection of their 
young. 
The Misletoe Thrush, usually so shy, seeks the immediate 
neighbourhood of our houses during the season of incubation, 
rears its young ones within sight of our windows, and spreads 
terror amongst the rest of the feathered race by its pugnacious 
persecution of all intruders. 
