PREFACE. 



The present work forms the companion volume to 

 TJie Nests and Eggs of British Birds, and renders the 

 subject of British Oology complete, so far as our know- 

 ledge now extends. It deals exclusively with the nidifi- 

 cation of the birds that do not breed in the British 

 Archipelago, but visit our islands regularly in winter, 

 pass the coasts on passage, or pay them their more or 

 less irregular visits as wanderers from their normal areas 

 of dispersal. 



I have spared no pains to make the subject as com- 

 plete and full of information as possible ; but, as the 

 student will eventually discover, there still remains a 

 vast amount of work to be done, which will take years 

 and years of further study to accomplish. Of the birds 

 that breed in civilized areas our information is fairly 

 complete, although even here many details are wanting 

 respecting the habits of birds in the pairing and breed- 

 ing seasons, the number of broods reared, and the dura- 

 tion of the periods of incubation. When we come to deal 

 with species that spend the summer in the Arctic regions, 

 or dwell permanently in deserts, and in countries little 

 explored by the scientific naturalist, our want of in- 

 formation becomes only too woefully apparent. I am 

 sanguine enough to hope that by pointing out the defi- 

 ciencies in our knowledge, I may stimulate observation, 

 and thus help in one way to reduce them. 



