Excerpt from An Egg Check List of North American Birds: Giving Accurate Descriptions of the Color and Size of the Eggs, and Locations of the Nests of the Land and Water Birds of North America The unprecedented interest manifest in the delightful study of Birds, their nests and eggs has, within the past few years called forth numerous works on the subject, and the literature of the study has vastly increased, especially in this country, where the held is comparatively new. The present publication is an entirely new departure from the beaten paths of voluminous works. It treats especially the subject indicated in its title. Probably no one has felt the need of a work of this character more than the writer. In making a life business of Natural History, I receive numerous inquiries of the following nature - often, written on postal cards: "Please describe the eggs of the following birds for me; also state the location where I am likely to find their nests, i. e., Carolina Wren, Red-tailed Hawk, Kingfisher, Blue-yellow-backed Warbler, and be particular in describing the nidification of the Blue Grosbeak and Canada Grouse." I quote the above from a postal card recently received, and which is undoubtedly from a young student of Oology. It would be almost impossible for me to reply fully to all communications of this kind which I receive in the course of a year. These interogatives led me to put in a condensed form the descriptions which are now before the reader, and as the author of the first "Egg Check List of North American Birds," I venture its publication and await the results. The species of eggs described belong strictly to the North American fauna. These descriptions are taken chiefly from my private collection, consisting upwards of four hundred species of North American Birds' Eggs, mostly in original sets, together with the skins of the birds. It is intended that through the aid of this Check List the collector may be enabled to identify his specimens while in the field. He will learn from this List what a great similarity there is in the eggs of the different species, and in fact, whole families, and how careful he must be to determine correctly. In the latter part of the present work there will be found concise directions for collecting Birds' Eggs and Nests, to which I specially call the attention of all young collectors. Under the head of "Notes" I give additional information regarding the nesting habits of many of the species. I am fully aware that the present List is not entirely complete, and therefore earnestly solicit additions, corrections and notes of every character relating to the subject from Ornithologists and Oologists. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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