XVI 
INTRODUCTION. 
nesting excursion in Shetland and in Norway with Mr. John 
Hancock, and Mr. Hoys’ successes in the Low Countries of the 
Continent, nearly doubled our previous knowledge ere the close 
of the book. 
Since then collectors of birds’ eggs have become numerous. 
Oology has become a fashionable pursuit; dishonest dealers have 
largely profited by the demand; plaster casts of a rare egg have 
been sold as the originals ; and with the exception of some of 
the best, there are few collections in which counterfeit eggs do 
not abound. 
It has been my anxious wish to figure eggs only which those 
most conversant with the subject believe to be truly authentic. 
In the present edition the eggs of five species figured in the 
last (as to which there are some doubts), have been omitted, 
twenty-five new species have been added ; and those who are 
credulous enough to be satisfied with them, will find representa¬ 
tions of many more in a book of which the Eev. Orpen Morris 
is the editor. 
Most of that which is new and of value in the present edi¬ 
tion has been supplied by the perseverance and enthusiasm of 
Mr. Wolley. To him, to Mr. Bond, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Newton, 
Mr. Salmon, Mr. Walter, Mr. Wilmot, and Mr. Yarrell, I would 
offer my most earnest thanks. The kindness which I have ex¬ 
perienced from each and all of them is not to be forgotten. 
The egg which is drawn at fig. ii. plate xxxii. is not that of 
the Beed Warbler, but of Salicaria pa-lustris, a continental species. 
It was sent me by mistake, but will not inaptly represent 
some varieties which I have seen of eggs of our own British 
species. 
