AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



IN one or two instances only does the nomenclature used in the 

 present volume differ from that followed in the fifth volume of the 

 'Hand-list of the Genera and Species of Birds.' The delay in the 

 publication of the latter work greatly retarded the present volume 

 of the Catalogue of Birds' Eggs which was commenced in 1906, the 

 year in which the late Dr. Sharpc hoped to complete his Hand-list. 

 Thus it happened that in the first sheets of the present work 

 (" B-K ") which were printed concurrently with the Hand-list, the 

 date of that work is wrongly referred to as 1906; likewise in 

 sheets "L-N" and "P" it is again wrongly quoted as 1808. 

 Dr. Sharpe, at that time in failing health, was unable to complete 

 the work as quickly as he had anticipated and it was not until 1909, 

 shortly before his death, that the filth volume of the Hand-list was 

 actually published. Since that time the extra amount of official 

 duties which have fallen to my share has rendered the completion 

 of the present volume a slow and somewhat difficult matter. 



During the progress of this volume through the press several 

 important collections of eggs have been added to the Museum series, 

 the principal of these being the large and very valuable Palrearctic 

 collection presented by Mr. W. Hadcliffe Saunders and the South 

 American collection presented by Mr. Ernest Gibson, while many 

 smaller but valuable series from the Andaman Islands, various 

 parts of Africa, Australia, etc., have been acquired by purchase 

 or exchange. 



The MS. for this volume was commenced years ago by the late 

 Mr. E. \Y. Gates, but was never completed, and the great additions 



