THE COLOURATION OF BIRDS' EGGS. 449 



we examine them too critically. Lest I be accused of doing this school 

 of naturalists injustice, let me quote from one of the greatest of them — 

 A. R. Wallace. 



He writes : "The beautiful blue or greenish eggs of the hedgesparrow, 

 the song-thrush, the blackbird, and the lesser red-pole seem at first sight 

 especially calculated to attract attention, but it is very doubtful whether 

 they are really so conspicuous when seen at a little distance among their 

 usual surroundings. For the nests of these birds are either in ever- 

 green, as holly or ivy, or surrounded by the delicate green tints of early 

 spring vegetation, and may thus harmonise very well with the colours 

 around them. The great majority of the eggs of our smaller birds are 

 so spotted or streaked with brown or black on variously tinted grounds 

 that, when lying in the shadow of the nest and surrounded by the many 

 colours and tints of bark and moss, of purple buds and tender green or 

 yellow foliage, with all the complex glittering lights and mottled shades 

 produced among these by the spring sunshine and by sparkling rain- 

 drops, they must have quite a different aspect from that which they 

 possess when we observe them torn from their natural surroundings." 



Contrast the above passage with that already quoted. How 

 definite the former and how vague, with its " mays ' and its 

 " mights ", how lame and halting is the latter. 



Most of us have seen eggs amid their natural surroundings and I 

 think we must admit that they are anything but coloured so as to appear 

 inconspicuous. 



Three very common Indian birds are able to disprove this theory, 

 these are the king-crow, the tree-pie and the mynas. The first-named 

 bird lays three distinct types of eggs, yet it builds but one type of nest. 

 Some of the eggs are pure white, others have a white ground spotted 

 with varying shades of red, while those of the third type are pinkish, 

 spotted with purple, red and brown. Is It conceivable that all three 

 types are protectively coloured ? 



The Indian tree-pie {Dendrocltta rafa) ha? the peculiarity of laying 

 eggs of almost any colours. Mr. W. Jesse thus writes of the eggs of 

 this bird : " I have a most lovely series varying enormously in shape, 

 size and colour. The -commonest variety is leaden white profusely 

 blotched with red ; but I have pure white examples with red, bluish 

 green with reddish and yellowish brown, green with profuse yellow- 

 brown blotches (like very spherical and miniature crow's), and pale 



