Excerpt from Provincial Names and Folk Lore of British Birds This volume is published by the English Dialect Society- -in conjunction with the Folk Lore Society, for whose members it was prepared by the author, the Rev. Charles Swainson. The following is Mr. Swainson's Preface: "My object has been to gather from various quarters the provincial names of our wild British birds (all notices of domesticated species being omitted), as well as the popular sayings and superstitions attached to them, illustrating these, if possible, by references to similar beliefs prevalent among other nations. I have endeavoured to model it, however imperfectly, on the invaluable volumes of M.Kolland, 'La Faune Populaire de la France, following the classification, and adopting the nomenclature, used in the 'List of British Birds compiled by a Committee of the British Ornithologists' Union. London, 1883.' "I must express my most sincere thanks to Mr, J.A. Harvie Brown for the help he so kindly afforded in allowing me to make use of his Ms. list of the provincial names of Scotch birds, also for many useful suggestions and corrections; and to Mr. Gomme for the courtesy and consideration he has shown in many ways, especially in his revision of the proofs. "I may add that the completion of the work has been unavoidably delayed from several causes, one of which has been my own ill-health." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.