INTRODUCTION. xi

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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 forty-five from the north make our

shores their winter residence.

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 larvee, 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 Gallinacee, which are well repre-
sented 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, Sand-

pipers and Gallinules. The first of these, the Cranes, which are more granivorous in their habits,

 

a