SS8 Anival of British Summer Birds, 



than it was destroyed. [See, in No. 41., the details of the 

 case of a wryneck ( Yunx Torquilla), whose nest was five times 

 disturbed, and the bird thereby excited to produce twenty- 

 two eggs.] Now, I argue that she [the wren] would not have 

 prepared her nest at all before it was required; and, con- 

 sequently, must have been ready to deposit her eggs as soon 

 as it was finished. If this supposition be correct, it will then 

 follow, if we do not allow the bird the power of retaining 

 her eggs at pleasure, that she must have dropped her eggs 

 while the second nest was constructing ; but, if this was the 

 case, for what purpose was the third nest built? I should, 

 reasoning from analogy, certainly feel inclined to say that the 

 exclusion or retention of the egg is no more under the will 

 or control of a bird than the exclusion or retention of the 

 foetus is subject to the will of a viviparous animal : yet, how 

 are we to reconcile this with the facts recorded ? * 



Art. VI. Notes on the Arrival of the British Summer Birds of 

 Passage in 1834, with incidental Remarks o?i some of the Species. 

 By Mr. Edward Blyth. 



The following notes have principally been taken in the 

 neighbourhood of Tooting, Surrey, in the course of long 

 rambles before breakfast; the country around being greatly 

 diversified, and exceedingly well adapted for observations of 

 this kind. 



The number of our feathered migrants, this season, appears 

 to me greatly to exceed the usual average, at least in the 



* What are we to say to the following remark ? — " The eggs of the 

 rook, magpie, and lapwing are nearly similar in size and appearance." 

 {Jesse y p. 193.) Is it possible that Mr. Jesse had ever seen the egg of the 

 lapwing before he made this remark ? Mr. Knapp, however, appears to be 

 of somewhat the same opinion ; for he tells us {Journal of a Naturalist, 

 2d ed., p. 262.) "the eggs of the rook, though bearing little resemblance to 

 those of the plover (lapwing), are, in some places, not uncommonly taken 

 and sold conjointly with them in the London market." Surely, it must be an 

 easy matter to impose upon a cockney. — C. C. [Hewitson's British Oology 

 will effectually tend to prevent the recurrence of similar errors. In pro- 

 motion of its useful service, we give again (we have noticed the work in 

 IV. 428, 429., VI. 509.) its title in full '.—British Oology; being Illustrations 

 of the Eggs of British Birds, with Figures of [those of] each Species ; as far 

 as practicable, drawn and coloured from Nature : accompanied by Descrip- 

 tions of the Materials and Situation of the Nests, &c. By W. C. Hewitson. 

 Currie, Newcastle ; Edwards, London. Seventeen numbers are published. 

 We hope that Mr, Hewitson will not omit to give, before his work is 

 completed, a dissertation on the structure of eggs, and especially on the 

 anomalies in structure which have been observed in them. The condi- 

 tions of anomalous formations are, in every class of natural objects, highly 

 instructive. See in VI. 430., and in Mr. Conway's communication above. 



