Historical information
These birds’ eggs were collected by Charles Brittlebank before 1910 but at this stage it is not known from which area they came. English-born Charles Brittlebank was a naturalist interested in ornithology, geology and mycology. He was the Government Plant Pathologist for Victoria from 1913 to 1924. He was the first to discover evidence of glaciation in the Werribee Gorge and published many papers on this subject and other aspects of natural history.
Significance
It is not known when Charles Brittlebank was in the Warrnambool area or the origin of the birds’ eggs but it a very interesting (and perhaps rare) historical collection.
Physical description
.1 Birds’ Eggs - There are 27 eggs, either whole or partial specimens, contained in a box with home–made cardboard partitions. Ten are intact and the rest are broken. Eight are white and the remainder are speckled. The eggs are resting on a turquoise-coloured piece of material
.2 Nest – This is woven from hair and fine twigs and is filled with white wool-like fragments
.3 Letter – These are two sheets of writing paper with handwritten information in blue ink.
.4 Envelope - This is a small envelope which contained the sheets of paper (.3 above) and the front has handwritten material in blue ink.
Inscriptions & markings
.3 ‘To whom it may concern – I hereby declare that these eggs were collected before 1910, and were part of a collection of the late Charles Brittlebank which is now in the Melbourne Museum. Fred. A. Shirrefs.’
.4 ‘To whom it may concern’
