NATURAL HISTORY OF IRELAND. VOL. I. BIRDS, COMPRISING THE ORDERS RAPTORES & INSESSORES. BY WM. THOMPSON, Esq., President of the Natural History and Philosophical Society of Belfast, Corresponding Member LONDON: REEVE, BENHAM, AND REEVE, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND. PREFACE. THE adoption of the title Natural History of Ireland for this work, of which the Birds only are announced for early publication, requires some explanation. The Zoology of Ireland,—on nearly every branch of which the author has matter almost ready for the press, would, it must be admitted, have been more strictly correct, as little else than that portion of the general subject is intended to be comprised in the work. It is, however, to be hoped that the name selected, may not be considered too presumptuous. The volumes on Birds are put forward merely as supplementary to the several excellent works already published on British Ornithology. Hence it is unnecessary to enter into a description of the form or plumage, or into a general history of each species, these subjects having been amply treated of in the publications alluded to. The whole economy of the species, however, though not always dwelt upon, will be often fully illustrated from original observation. Figures of Irish birds are not required, as all the species are included, down to the period of publication (to mention British works only) in Selby's Illustrations of British Ornithology; Gould's Birds of Europe; and the History of British Birds by Bewick, and Yarrell, respectively. Coloured figures of many of the species are also given in Sir Wm. Jardine's work on British |