Page:Nests and eggs of Australian birds 1901.djvu/11



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"Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weakness of the flesh." But to write a book on any department of natural history—a portion of the "Bible of Nature"—is a privilege and a pleasure, "weariness of the flesh" notwithstanding. And what one has to write in this direction must be written soon, because, as Professor H. N. Moseley has pointed out regarding the study of the fauna and flora of any country, forms are perishing rapidly day by day, and will soon be, like the dodo or the moa, extinct. "The history of things," he said, "once gone can never be recovered, but must remain for ever a gap in the knowledge of mankind." It is the old proverb—"That which is wanting cannot be numbered."

Since Gould's "Handbook" to his great work, "Birds of Australia," several lesser aids to Australian ornithology and oology have been issued under separate covers. These are, namely:—

1. Dr. E. P. Ramsay's useful "Tabular List" of Australian Birds (1877). Second edition (1888).

2. A Manual by myself on "Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds," embracing papers on "Oology of Australian Birds" read before the Field Naturalists' Club of "Victoria (1883).

3. Mr. G. J. Broinowski's "Birds of Australia," in six parts—illustrated (1887-91).

4. "Catalogue No. 12" of the Australian Museum; or "Nests and Eggs of Birds found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania" (1889), by Mr. A. J. North, F.L.S., &c.

5. And Mr. Robert Hall's up-to-date "Key of the Birds of Australia and Tasmania (1899)"

My Manual was designed to show how much had to be done before anything like a complete work on such an interesting and important department as "Nests and Eggs" could be attempted. My fixed aim was towards a more complete and permanent work; and the result of that self-imposed task I now present to the public. By the light of