PREFACE. 
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Tew years ago when beginning to make a collection of birds’ eggs in 
this country, I was struck by the diversity in the breeding seasons, and 
the want of any guide to assist the beginner in his researches. Since 
then I have kept a continuous record of my observations, and, with 
the intention of eventually publishing them, I have endeavoured to 
gather together, as far as possible, the recorded experiences of others ; and 
this little book is the result. Many friends have kindly placed their 
collections at my disposal, and for a great deal of the information 
regarding the rarer birds, I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. A. O. 
Hume, in permitting the use of extracts from a draft of his book on “ Indian 
Birds’ Nests and Eggs,” which has as yet only been printed for private 
circulation : to this source are due the valuable observations from Sikkim 
by Mr. Gammie; from Hansi (Punjab), the Central Provinces, and 
Bundelkhund by Mr. Blewitt; from the Nilgiris by Miss Cockburn 
and Messrs, Davidson and Wait, and by many others from various parts 
of India, while the information from Bengal is chiefly due to Mr. Parker. 
Of private collections from which notes have been taken those of Captains 
Cock and C. H. T. Marshall, and of Mr. W. E. Brooks, were the most 
important, and to all these gentlemen my thanks are due. 
The notes from upper India are comparatively full and complete, but 
as regards Eastern and Peninsular India they are as yet very meagre, 
more especially from the latter. A good deal of new information has 
been collected since the manuscript of this book was put in hand, and 
more is being accumulated month by month; but the knowledge already 
gained is valuable as far as it goes, and believing that it is better that 
what is known should be made at once available to the public, rather 
than that indefinite delay should be made for fuller detail, I offer no 
further apology for the incompleteness of the record. 
This book will not in any way supplant the carefully detailed work 
which Mr. Hume is compiling on the nidification of Indian birds, but 
it will supplement it by abstracting, in a convenient form, certain points 
