INTRODUCTION xi 



shallow drawers, unless, indeed, they can be still more 

 advantageously placed in the nests themselves, which it 

 is most important to collect and preserve, for, as Mr. Inger- 

 soll says in his plea for the "Study of Nests": 



"As a scientific study there is far more advantage to 

 be obtained from a series of nests than from a series of 

 eggs. The nest is something with which the will and 

 energies of the bird are concerned. It expresses the char- 

 acter of the workman, is to a certain extent an index of 

 its rank among birds for in general those of the highest 

 organisation are the best architects and gives us a glimpse 

 of the bird's mind and power to understand and adapt 

 itself to changed conditions of life. The nest is always 

 more or less the result of conscious planning and intelligent 

 work, even though it does follow a hereditary habit in its 

 style ; while the egg is an automatic production varying, 

 if at all, only as the whole organisation of the bird under- 

 goes change. Don't neglect the nests then. In them more 

 than anywhere else lies the key to the mind and thoughts 

 of a bird, the spirit which inhabits that beautiful frame and 

 bubbles out of that golden mouth. And is it not this inner 

 life, this human significance in bird nature, this soul of 

 ornithology, that we are all aiming to discover ? " 



Much might be said regarding the wonderful structure 

 of the egg and the marvellous changes that the contents 

 undergo during incubation, but these considerations belong 

 rather to the domain of physiology than of ornithology. 

 One point however may be alluded to, the difference in 

 the character of the shell of the egg when first laid and 

 after incubation. The marvellous strength of the shell, when 

 its slight structure is considered, is rarely fully appreci- 

 ated. If an ordinary well-formed hen's egg is taken, and 



