I REGRET the impossibility of expressing adequate appreciation of the help which so many have given, directly or indirectly, during the years this book has been in preparation. The folklorist is often indebted to simple folk as well as scholars and my life as well as this study has been greatly enriched by friends and acquaintances belonging to both categories in the Far East as well as in Europe. I would mention particularly the kindness of Professor Gahs in Yugo-Slavia, the assistance of Mr. P. B. Platts in visiting prehistoric sites in France and the help of Professor J. H. Delargy and his colleagues of The Irish Folklore Commission in Ireland.
Professor Delargy and Mr. T. C. Lethbridge read much of the book in manuscript. Professors E. O. James and J. Skemp, and Miss J. Larter read the proofs. The criticisms and comments of these scholars, each considering the subject from the point of view of a specialist in one of the themes with which the book deals have been most valuable. Dr. J. Teicher translated an Arabic document and Miss S. A. Skilliter called my attention to some Persian references. Professor T. Harrison contributed suggestions concerning the mediaeval period and English literature. Without the facilities provided by Cambridge libraries this work would have been very incomplete. The staffs of the University Library, the Haddon and Newton libraries have been very helpful. Authorities in the British Museum advised me on matters concerning Semitic and Greek antiquities.
Among those who have contributed photographs or put me into touch with sources for them I would mention particularly Mr. George Buday, Colonel Norman Colville, Mr. Kevin Danaher, Dr. J. Kunst, Mr. M. J. O’Kelly, Dr. E. J. Lindgren-Utsi, and Mademoiselle L. Mantoy. The staff of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes were very helpful and I am much indebted to the authorities of the Museums and Institutes mentioned in connexion with the Plates and text figures and to all those who have so kindly allowed figures or photographs to be reproduced. I am especially grateful to Mr. James Walton for allowing me to use a copy of a Bushman rock painting made by him.
Miss I. Hallward made a number of the line drawings and Mr. H. H. Morley was responsible for photo-copying black and white figures.
Answers to the questionnaire circulated in connexion with the English Folklore Survey were forwarded to me by Mr. McN. Dodgson of University College, London. The data confirmed the survival of a number of beliefs about birds mentioned in the foregoing pages.
I am deeply grateful to these and others for their help
EDWARD A. ARMSTRONG.