G. S. BOULGER, F.L.S., F.G.S. PROFESSOR OF BOTANY AND GEOLOGY, CITY OF LONDON COLLEGE, ་་ A NEW EDITION WITH NOTES BY THE LATE LORD LILFORD LONDON DUCKWORTH & CO. 3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. ACX 4-24-39 MEC PREFACE POPULAR works on natural history have increased marvellously of late. There is, however, no book that I know of which gives the changing face of the country and its wild life in the form of a regular calendar of the seasons. The aim of Mr Boulger and myself has been to try and give a practical direction to lovers of nature in their observations, by telling them of the sights they may expect to find, month by month, in their country wanderings. The plants and insects are treated of by Mr Boulger, whilst I have written all that pertains to the birds and other animal life. The late Lord Lilford, the President of the Ornithological Society, who was good enough to interest himself in the various books under the signature "A Son of the Marshes" which I edited, read carefully and critically through our present work, in its first edition, and he generously sent me a number of comments and notes of his own, with a view to a new edition. These I am glad to have been able to add to this volume. |