INTRODUCTION. 
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About the year 1852 1 first fell a victim to a mania for 
collecting ; nothing came amiss, from a cricket to a coin; 
but the ruling passion at that time found its highest satis- 
faction in the acquisition of butterflies and moths, with a 
dash of beetles thrown in by way of a relish. With the old 
fever still lingering in my veins, I visited the seaside in 
1871; to my intense disgust, hardly a specimen of any 
description was to be obtained. Feeling the impossibility 
of dragging out an inactive existence for four weeks with 
no alleviation but that offered by the morning swim, I 
began to cast about for something to give zest to my 
rambles, when the idea of forming a collection of British 
Birds’ Eggs came to me as a welcome relief. Without 
delay I set to work in search of nests, having no knowledge 
to guide me, beyond what I had picked up hap-hazard 
during my entomological excursions, which amounted to 
little more than an acquaintance with the notes and general 
appearance of some of our commoner birds, and the size 
and colouring of a few of their eggs. As might be expected, 
the whole of the eggs first collected were blown with two 
holes, and the discovery that I could expel the contents, by 
means of a blowpipe, from one hole, was made in total 
ignorance that this plan had long been in general practice. 
The fact that my birdsnesting was begun without 
previous study was ultimately the cause of the production 
