X INTRODUCTION.
temperature congenial to the young, and an abundant supply of food suitable for their
nourishment; we here allude more particularly to our summer visitants which have left the
climate of Africa, too hot to be borne in summer, but well adapted for their winter retreat. A
reverse of these circumstances takes place among our winter visitors; the high polar latitudes
are their summer residence; but on the setting in of the cold in those regions the supply of
food necessarily fails them, and this, with the extreme rigour of the climate, forces them to
sojourn for a while in more temperate latitudes; hence while the Swallow, the Cuckoo the
Nightingale, many species of soft-billed Warblers, and numerous others visit us in spring from
the south, for the purpose of nidification, and leave us on the approach of winter • the Fieldfare
the Redwing, the Woodcock, and various aquatic birds find a winter asylum with us, and depart
again in spring to make room for a new succession of visitors. Independently, however, of the
numerous migratory birds which are only temporary residents, a large number of species permanently
remain in our latitudes; yet strange to say, of many of these the number is greatly
augmented, especially during winter, by accessions from the north, among which latter are
some of the smallest and most delicate of their race; we may mention the Golden-crested Wren
as an example in point. Instances are not wanting of the arrival of multitudes of this species
on our shores, but in such a state of exhaustion as to be almost powerless. In the case of the
Lark and the Thrush, which also visit us in great numbers, the performance of a flight across
the German Ocean does not much surprise us; but when we examine this little bird, which is
by no means adapted for long-sustained aerial progression, we are at a loss to conceive how such
a migration could have been performed. It is, however, only one amongst the many wonders
of nature which are continually forced upon the attention of the naturalist.
So much has already been written on the structural adaptation of birds to their respective
habits, and on their periodical changes of plumage, that we may be readily excused if we
omit any detail connected with these points, more especially as they rather belong to the
physiology of the feathered race, than to the natural history of the species of one quarter of the
globe.
While the strictly tropical climates of the world abound with species infinitely diversified
in; form, and often adorned with the richest hues, the Birds of Europe are not only far
INTRODUCTION.
less specifically numerous, «but with the exception of a very few, arrayed also in the most
sombre livery, an inferiority however amply compensated by their superiority of song.
At the present time the Fauna of Europe may be fairly stated to contain four hundred and
sixty-two species, of which three hundred and ten may be regarded as British; of the latter
number about one hundred and seventy are permanent residents in our islands; eighty-five are
summer birds of passage, visiting.us from the,south; and fortyrfive from the north make our
shores their winter residence. I
In our arrangement we have classed and subdivided the groups (as nearly as may be) after
the plan proposed by Mr. Vigors. They form five volumes, the first of which comprises
the whole of the birds of the Raptorial Order, an order containing, as implied by the name,
the sanguinary and ferocious of the feathered race, among which are included not only the large
tyrants of the air, the Eagles, the Falcons, the Owls, &c., which make living animals their prey;
but also the Vultures, which gorge upon any loathsome carrion that chance throws in their
way.
Our second and third volumes comprise the species contained in the second order, termed
Insessores, or perching birds ; an extensive order, in which are included birds varying in their
powers of flight and in their habits no less than in their food; some, like the Swallow, taking
their insect prey on the wing, others pursuing it among the branches of trees and thickets;
others feed indifferently upon insects, their lame, and upon grain; and others, eminently
arboreal, (such as the Woodpeckers) search for their food among the crevices of the bark of
trees, for which purpose they are expressly and beautifully organized.
To these succeed the Rasorial and Grallatorial Orders, both of which are included in our
fourth volume. The Pigeons, at the head of the Rasores, as their perching habits indicate,
naturally lead from the last order to the more typical of the Gallinaceae, which are well represented
by the Pheasant, Partridge, and Grouse, whose food and habits it is unnecessary to
describe; and from thence to the Grallatores, represented by the Cranes, Herons, Storks, Sandpipers
and Gallinules. The first of these, the Cranes, which are more granivorous in their habits,