PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE First Edition, consisting of rather more than 3,000 copies, was completed in November 1839, and exhausted early in 1897. The species which were then considered as British numbered 367, but in this Second Edition the total has been raised to 384. Comparative elevation of the land in the United Kingdom and the depth of the surrounding seas while, although on a small scale, it will serve as a guide to the relative positions of the various groups of islands. It may also remind the reader that, owing to the iudcntations of our coast, very few places in the British Islands are fifty miles distant in a straight line from tidal or brackish water a circumstance which exercises a modifying influence on our climate- and consequently on our bird-life-during the winter months, and is in strong contrast with the extreme conditions prevalent over compact Continental areas, even further to the south. The North Polar Chart embodies the latest discoveries by Dr. Nansen and others, and it is hoped that it will be of assistance in estimating the range of the birds which breed in the Arctic regions. The letter-press has required considerable alteration, owing to the large amount of information rendered accessible during the last nine years by such works as the Faunas of the Inner Hebrides and Argyll, of the Orkneys, and of the Moray Basin, all three by Messrs. Harvie-Brown and T. E. Buckley the Birds of Devon, by Messrs. DUrban and hfathew the Birds of Fcmbrokeshire, by tlle Rev. M. A. Mathew the Fauna of Lakeland, by thc Rev. H. A. JIacphersoii the Birds of Northamptonshire, by the much- regretted Lord Lilford, and other works not to mention various compilations, in which there is material of value. In I896 appeared Mr. W...