78 HEWITSON'S "BRITISH OOLOGY." 



of the Hen Qcommon] Harrier's. I have not, therefore, thought it 

 necessary, to give a figure of the spotted variety." There are some 

 interesting remarks on the nidification of the Rufous Harrier, as 

 indicative of its affinity to the genus Buteo. Of the Montagu Har- 

 rier, Mr. Hewitson says, " the eggs are usually four or five in num- 

 ber : the nest from which specimens are now in my cabinet, con- 

 tained six — the only instance Mr. Baker [who has found many]] 

 has ever met with. They are of a clear white, distinctly tinted 

 with light blue, and are never (to the best of my information) 

 spotted." Most probably, however, examples more or less speckled 

 do occasionally occur. 



Two specimens of the eggs of the Common Harrier, ( C. commu- 

 nis : we prefer this term, as it is a bird of very general distribution, 

 and the appellations cyaneus, cinerarias, &c, are of generic, rather 

 than of specific application. Common is also a better epithet than 

 Hen Harrier). The eggs of this bird, " though perhaps, most fre- 

 quently of a bluish-white, are yet very often marked with light 

 spots of yellowish-brown, mixed with a purplish hue, and in some 

 instances, as shewn in the second figure of the plate, with deeper 

 and more distinctly defined spots of brown. The eggs of the three 

 species of Harrier may be readily known from others nearly allied 

 to them, by the fine greenish-blue of the inside, which may be seen 

 upon holding them up to the light" 



All the Owl family lay very similar white eggs, and in two 

 plates are represented those of four species, viz., the Long and Short- 

 tufted Madge, the Barn Owl, and the Tawny Hooter. Of the 

 last-mentioned, it is stated, that, •' unlike most birds, she begins 

 to sit when the first egg is laid : it is hatched, in consequence, some 

 days before the last." The same may be asserted of the Barn Owl. 



Eggs of the Kingfisher and Bee-eater next present themselves, 

 both of a shining white and nearly spherical ; the former rather 

 exceeding in size that of a Corn Bunting, the latter about equal to 

 a Song Thrush's egg. The Kingfisher, says Mr. Hewitson, "lays 

 six or seven eggs, sometimes upon a collection of small fish bones, 

 but I think more commonly on the bare sand." From our own ob- 

 servation, w r e are disposed to consider the former more usual, these 

 birds mostly nestling in the hole that they had long previously occu- 

 pied for retirement and for a place to roost in, and where they con- 

 tinually disgorge the innutritious remnants of their food till a thick 

 layer has accumulated ; though certainly with no instinctive re- 

 ference to their future progeny. 



Three eggs of the Chimney Swallow, (Hirundo garrulaj, ex- 



