NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 185 



of the past in every other haunt. At that time flocks of this fine 

 game bird were said to be hngering in one part of Cyprus, viz., 

 in the Vale of Maratassa, near Baffa, the ancient Paphos; but 

 from the information communicated by Mr Pagan it was evident 

 that the great scarcity of recent years was but the precursor of 

 extinction there also. 



Mr Gray concluded his remarks as follows: — From all the 

 published accounts of the bird, it would appear that the scarcity 

 and subsequent disappearance of the Francolin from EurojDe, have 

 wholly resulted from its being a favourite table luxury. Year by 

 year its haunts, which have in every respect remained unaltered, 

 have been gradually deserted, or, rather, the birds themselves 

 have been extirpated through a persistent demand for them and 

 their eggs. In other countries certain birds have yielded to the 

 destructive influences of man's encroachment through inability to 

 protect themselves. The Dodo and Dinornis are familiar ex- 

 amples, and the Great Auk may now be added as a victim to the 

 law which is slowly but surely swelling the list of extinct species. 

 In the case of the Francolin, however, no immediate dread of 

 total extinction need be entertained, as it is still a well-known 

 bird in many parts of India, and is, in fact, a somewhat common 

 Asiatic species. No other reason can be given for its utter 

 extirpation from an area so extensive as the range of its former 

 habitats in Europe than its marketable value ; no alteration of the 

 ground frequented, no inertness on the part of the bird, no 

 introduction of undue protection to other species which might 

 adversely affect its well-being, no appearance of natural decay — 

 nothing, in short, to induce a comparison between its fate and 

 that of the flightless birds I have named. While, therefore, the 

 ornithologist laments the disappearance of species within his own 

 recollection, and is warned to prepare for the exit of others whose 

 powers of self-preservation are but feeble, he has no theory to 

 offer for the extinction of the Francolin as a European bird but 

 the exceedingly unromantic statement that it has literally been 

 eaten up ! 



Dr Dewar exhibited two unblown eggs of the Golden Eagle (Aquila 

 chrysdeios), taken from an eyrie on the confines of Argyllshire and 

 Dumbartonshire on the 1 1th of the present month. The specimens 

 (one darkly spotted, the other very light in colour) were large, heavy, 

 and handsome ; and having been procured in a district which, in 



