Background:

These unique prints are from a guide authored by the British naturalist the Rev. F. O. Morris.  Each print portrays the nest and egg of a bird native to the British Isles.   Following is a review of the guide from the 1800s: "This work gives the fullest information respecting the localities and construction of their nests, the number and peculiarities of their eggs, and all the instruction requisite for determining to what species they belong.  Each egg is figured and minutely described, and a number of nests are accurately drawn from specimens."  The wood engravings were done by the well-known British engraver Benjamin Fawcett.