VI. 



Australian birds, collected by him during his visits to that colony 

 in 1863, and in 1868. 



Mr. George Barnard of Coomooboolaroo, Queensland, and his 

 sons, have contributed largely towards a knowledge of the 

 nidification of a number of the birds of Central Queensland, and 

 I have to acknowledge the assistance and the loan of specimens 

 for description from Dr. James C. Cox, and Dr. George Hurst of 

 Sydney, and Mr. E. D. Atkinson of Tasmania. 



It must be borne in mind that this is a Descriptive Catalogue 

 of the Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds, remarks therefore 

 on each species are necessarily very brief, but in order to some- 

 what relieve the monotony of one technical description following 

 another, and where the eggs have been previously described, I 

 have given in full in some instances, papers contributed at various 

 times by Dr. Ramsay to the " Ibis,'' entitled " Notes on Birds 

 breeding in the Neighbourhood of Sydney," and in addition given 

 extracts, which I thought might prove of interest, from other 

 papers furnished by the same author to kindred societies and 

 publications. 



Of the 469 species here described, with the exception of those of 

 34 taken from Mr. Gould's "Handbook to the Birds of Australia," 

 I have personally examined those of every species, and need 

 hardly state that they have been taken only from thoroughly 

 authentic specimens. 



Appended is a list of those birds of which, as far as is known, 

 no authentic information has been recorded of their having been 

 found breeding in Australia or Tasmania, but which have been 

 found in other parts of the world, and fully described by different 

 authors ; these being only visitors or stragglers to Australia, are 

 not included in this work. 



For the nomenclature I have followed the authors of the 

 Catalogues of Birds in the British Museum, and Dr. Ramsay's 

 List of the Birds of Australia, the habitats also being taken from 

 the latter work. No systematic arrangement has been adopted 



