PREFACE
T h e subject of British Mammals has already been well treated in part by some
of our ablest writers, but that it has been exhaustively dealt with must be denied
by all who have any real knowledge of our wild creatures. There are three main
essentials in a work dealing with any fa u n a f ir s t , scientific accuracy of arrangement
; secondly, good pictures both in colour and black and white, drawn from life;
and thirdly, exact information on the distribution and the life history of the various
species. Now the first requisite is one that any desk-zoologist without experience
rap approach with ease owing to the plenitude of literature at his command.
Much has been already written, and little that is new of a general character can
be added except as to bats and seals and the rodents. But as regards the two
other points— to my mind quite as important and most difficult a complete
knowledge of the wild life and the wild creatures themselves is necessary, and this
can only be gained by time, patience, and observation.
It was my own want of knowledge as regards bats, mice, and seals that first
led me to study this subject, for in no work could I find accurate accounts of
these animals. It took me four years and four separate expeditions to gain full
knowledge of the Grey Seal alone, and I have endeavoured to acquire firsthand
knowledge of all the creatures I write about and illustrate. I may say, too, that,
though I have been studying the Birds and Mammals of our islands since boyhood,
this present work alone has occupied me for the best part of five years, and
I still feel its incompleteness [in certain parts. I have done my best, however, from
all points of view to give the public a complete work on the subject.
More than thirty years ago Professor Thomas Bell published his admirable
• British Quadrupeds,’ and it still remains a standard work on the subject, but as
VOL. L