PREFACE. 



The primary object of this work is to supply siicli 

 information as will help the student of ornithology 

 to find and identify the nests and eggs of birds 

 breeding within the British Isles. In its prepara- 

 tion I have endeavoured always to keep my own 

 early wants in view, and worked accordingly. 



The arrangement of the book (a sort of combina- 

 tion of Montagu and Newman) is, I am inclined 

 to think, the best for a popular work of its kind, 

 and enables a ready reference to any bird or its 

 breeding habits and economy. The brief descrip- 

 tions of the parent birds — which are as far as possible 

 in their breeding plumage, and have been made as 

 concise and ])ractical as circumstances would admit — 

 will be found of considerable assistance in identifying 

 specimens, which is unquestionably the most im- 

 portant point connected with the study of the 

 subject. 



I recognised this fact when I was a lad of nine 

 years of age, and in endeavouring to carry it to its 

 logical conclusion brought considerable trouble upon 

 myself. During one of my solitary excursions along 

 the side of a noisy Yorkshire beck I came across a 

 bird's nest, differing so widely from all my previous 

 " takes " and discoveries that I determined to find 

 out the species to which it belonged, and accord- 



