INTRODUCTION. 



In giving to the public the first number of a paper designed to describe and to 

 illustrate the Oology of North America, a few introductory remarks are not inap- 

 propriate. The design of the present paper embraces as its legitimate subjects 

 the external shape, size, and markings of the eggs, the nests, or the substitutes 

 for nests, the general habits of the birds peculiar to the breeding season, and their 

 geographical distribution, especially so far as the last may be in connection with 

 their nesting. The internal anatomy of the parent birds, even so far as it may be 

 closely connected with the origin of the subjects of illustration, the formation and 

 development of the egg before expulsion, the chemical peculiarities of the struc- 

 ture of the shell and of its coloring matter, though all closely connected with the 

 subject, are not embraced within its present scope. These are interesting, at- 

 tractive, and essential connecting links in the history of the propagation of the 

 feathered tribes. They are well worthy of being embraced in investigations that 

 shall reach far beyond any partial researches now on record. They open too wide 

 a field, however, and are quite beyond the means of investigating them at present 

 possessed by the writer. 



The paper of which the present number is the commencement is designed to 

 eive all that is known to the writer in connection with the subject, derived from 

 his own observations or contributed by the investigations of others. No one 

 is better aware than himself how necessarily deficient his work must be, or that 

 much more remains to be ascertained, and probably will remahi, even after his final 

 number shall have been published. For this, however, he does not deem it neces- 

 sary to apologize, or to offer any other remark than the simple statement that 

 all the facts and knowledge within his reach, or that could be obtained by re- 

 searches dating back more than twenty years, are here given. He would have been 

 glad could they have been more complete. Havmg done all that was within his 

 power towards that completion, he can only give according to his present means, 

 and rely upon future investigations to complete that Avhich he has here only 

 begun. 



The present Part embraces the descriptions and illustrations of the eggs of the 

 Order Raptorcs, and of the Tribe Fissirostres of the Order Insessores. So far as he 



