PREFACE. 



TEN 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 



