VI11 
PREFACE. 
species. I had not then considered any special arrange¬ 
ment or grouping, but noticed each species seriatim in the 
order adopted by Mr. Yarrell in his excellent “ History of 
British Birds.” Since that date, I have collected so much 
additional information on the subject, that, instead of 
eighty pages (the extent of my first publication), three 
hundred have now passed through the printers’ hands. 
With this large accession of material, it was found abso¬ 
lutely necessary to re-arrange and re-write the whole. The 
birds therefore have been now divided into certain natural 
groups, including the foreign and domesticated species, to 
each of which groups a chapter has been devoted ; and I 
have thought it desirable to give, by way of introduction, 
a sketch of Shakespeare’s general knowledge of natural 
history and acquaintance with field-sports, as bearing 
more or less directly on his special knowledge of Orni¬ 
thology, which I propose chiefly to consider. 
After I had published the last of the series of articles 
referred to, I received an intimation for the first time, that, 
twenty years previously, a notice of the birds of Shake¬ 
speare had appeared in the pages of The Zoologist . I 
lost no time in procuring the particular number which 
contained the article, and found that, in December, 1846, 
Mr. T. W. Barlow, of Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, had, to 
a certain extent, directed attention to Shakespeare’s 
knowledge as an Ornithologist. His communication, 
however, did not exceed half a dozen pages, in which 
