







Prospectus. 



OF THI". 



Nests and Eggs of American Birds. 



BY ERNEST I]Sr&ERS01L.L, 



Late Zoologist of the United States Geological Survey, Member of the Boston Society 



of Natural History, the Nuttall Ornithological Club, the Davenport 



Academy of Sciences, etc., etc. 



Illustrated by elegantly executed Lithographic plates. 



Perhaps no branch of zoology is more attractive than ornithology ; and 

 certainly no department of this branch excites more interest, particularly in 

 the young student, than the nesting habits of the birds. It is a matter of 

 no little difficulty, skill and expense, to secure a satisfactory collection of 

 the skins of the birds of any one district, not to speak of the whole coun- 

 try ; but a cabinet of the nests and eggs of birds is far more easily obtained. 

 It happens naturally, therefore, that there are a larger number of private 

 collections of the nests and eggs than of the skins of birds; yet, while sev- 

 eral works, — for instance Dr. Coues's " Key," — exist for the purpose of prop- 

 erly identifying the specimens in the latter, no book has yet been printed in 

 America by which birds' eggs may be identified. That such a book is de- 

 manded is apparent to every one in communication with naturalists, profes- 

 sional and amateur, throughout the country. 



The book herein proposed is intended to satisfy this want. Yet, as its title 

 indicates, it will be something more than a mere " egg-book." It will en 

 deavor to bring into the prominence they deserve those interesting phases of 

 bird-life presented during the annual breeding season. Upon this our books 

 of ornitliology have touched only incidentally, and the Information extant is 

 scattered through a hundred publications, many of which are obscure pam- 

 phlets, the obscurer "proceedings" of scientific societies, or foreign books 

 inaccessible to most persons. The mere bringing of these dispersed facts to- 

 gether, into a connected narrative of the nesting habits of each species, would 

 be highly valuable ; but the author will add a large amount of original and 

 hitherto unpublished matter, aiming to make the work as exhaustive as 

 the development of the subject at this date will admit. 



