INTRODUCTION. 



^T^HE present and second Volume contains descriptions of the Nests and Eggs of one hundred 

 -'- aud seventy-five species of Australian and Tasmanian Birds, and is partly based on the 

 collections in the Australian Museum, and the remainder chiefly on private collections. The 

 birds enumerated form the concluding portion of the Order Passeres, and belong to the Families 

 Laniid^., Certhiiixe, SiTTiD^, Meliphagid.b, Nectariniid.e, Zosteropid^e, Dic.«;id.e, Parda- 

 LOTiD^, Hirundinid^, Artamid^, Sturnid^, Ploceid.b, MoTACiLLiD.i;, Alaudid/E, Pittid.k 

 and Menurid^. It also includes the greater portion of the Order Picarli;, comprising the 

 Families Caprimulgid.'e, Podargid.^c, Coraciid.*;, Meropid/E, and Alcedinid^e. 



By the loan of specimens and the contribution of information, considerable assistance has 

 been received from many valued correspondents whose names appear in the work. With some 

 slight alterations the nomenclature, as in the first Volume, is similar to that of the authors of the 

 " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," and to whom I here acknowledge my indebtedness. 



One hundred and seventy-five species of Australian and Tasmanian birds are described in 

 this Volume, of which the types of the following four species are in the Australian Museum 

 CoWecUon : — ClimnLteris superciliosa, Ptilotis keartlandi, P. leilavaknsis, and Panlalotus assimilis. 



The figures of eggs, which are of the natural size, have been reproduced by the heliotype 

 process at the Government Printing Office, from photographs of the originals taken under the 

 direction of the Government Printer, Mr. W. A. Gullick, and the personal supervision of Mr. 

 A. E. Dyer. 



The original drawings of birds, from which the figures have been reproduced, were made by 

 the late Mr. Neville Cayley, who also coloured the plates of eggs in the coloured copies. The 

 photographs of nests are the work of the Museum Photographer (Mr. H. Barnes, Junr.), Mr. 

 George Savidge of Copmanhurst, and myself. 



A.J.N. 



Sydney, September, 1909. 



