PLAN OF THE WORK- 5 



^ii^- — The descriptions and measurements of the eggs were pre- 

 pared by Mr. C. W. Crandall, well known as^ a careful, conservative 

 oologist. Mr. Crandall possesses one of the largest private collections 

 of eggs in the country, and his work is therefore based on abundance 

 of material. The eggs figured are, in the main, from Mr. Crandall's 

 collection with additions from the collections of the American Mus- 

 eum of Natural History and of Mr. J. L. Childs. 



Nesting Dates. — Unless otherwise specified the dates here given 

 are the earliest and latest at which full sets of fresh eggs were found. 

 Most of the data here presented were contributed by the ornithologists 

 whose names are given as authority, but the collections of the Ameri- 

 can Museum and of Mr. C. W. Crandall as well as the literature of 

 the subject have also been drawn on. 



Biographical References. — As the heading indicates this biblio- 

 graphical matter is restricted to articles treating of the habits of the 

 bird in question. Where quotations are made from these articles due 

 acknowledgment is made by cross-reference in the text. 



Contributors. — In the preceeding comments on the plan of the 

 book, the principal contributors to it have bfeen mentioned. Assist- 

 ance, however, was received from many others, in some cases merely 

 a nesting date, in others more extended notes. Whenever used such 

 matter is duly acknowledged and we give here an alphabetical list of 

 all contributors of manuscript to the book., The impossibility of 

 including in this list the names of the hundreds of observers on whose 

 work the migration tables are based is regretted, but Professor 

 Cooke assures us that the manner in which these data are presented 

 ftiakes it impossible to give credit where credit is due. 



To Waldron DeWitt Miller, Robert C. Murphy, and Ludlow 

 Griscom I am much indebted for assistance in reading proof. 



LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 



Allison, Andrew, Ellisville, Miss. 



Attwater, H. P., Houston, Texas. 



Bagg, Egbert, Utica, N. Y. 



Barrows, Walter B., Agricultural College? -Mich. 



Bishop, Louis B., New Haven, Conn. 



Bowles, C. W. and J. H., Tacoma, Wash. 



Brewster, William, Cambridge, Mass. 



Burns, Frank L., Berwyn, Pa. 



Burtch, Verdi, Branchport, N. Y. 



