( (1(19 ) 



ON LITTLE-KNOWN AND UNDESCRIBED EGGS FROM 



THE KUKU-NOOR. 



By j:rnst hartert. 



THE following small collection was sent to this Mnsenm by lien- Tancre, whoso 

 collector had brought it together in the province of Amilo, only a little east 

 of the Kuku-Noor, in the hills just south of the town of Si-ning. 



All the eggs were accompanied by the parent birds in good skins, and carefully 

 labelled with the corresponding numliers. I have named the birds myself. 



1. Merula kessleri Przew. 



Pleske, Aces, Przewalski's Ji('isi'>i, pp. 21-2s. 



The eggs agree entirely with Pleske's excellent dcsi'ription and lignres. 



2. Ruticilla rufiventris (VieilL). 



Gates, in Hume's Nests and Eggs Ind. B., ii., p. 64 (IsOdj ; Pleske, Aves, 

 Przewalski's Reisen, p. 50. 



Glutches of fotir and five eggs sent. They are of a uniform sky-blue colour, 

 paler than those of Rtifirilla phoenicunis, a little larger than the usual size of the 

 latter, and ipiite spotless. They measure ItMj to 2(J'o : 14-7 to 1.V4. 



Pleske (('•c) also mentions the eggs, which are said to have tine, hardly 

 perceptible, brown punctures on the broad end. 



3. Ruticilla frontalis (Vig.). 



Pleske, Atcs, Przewalski's Reisen, pp. 0."), (SO, pi. v., tig. ■) ; (Dates, in Hume's 

 Nests and Eggs hid. B., ii., p. (i4. 



Several clutches, containing five and six eggs each, are of a delicate greenish 

 blue, with more or less indistinct small rufous brownish spots near the larger end, 

 in some almost invisible, in a few others forming a very distinct and obvious ring. 

 If held against the light they transpare delicate bine ; they are elongate ovate, some 

 more pointed towards the smaller end, moderately glossy. They measure 



21-5 : l.Vri, I 



20'n : 15-6, - and abont and between these measurements. 



23 : l.V.-., J 

 The eggs described and fignred by Pleske as those of Rut. frontalis and 

 R. schisticej/s (I.e.) are entirely dili'erent irom those described here, and I have 

 considerable doubt whether they are any Ridicillrn' at all. All authenticated 

 eggs of members of the genus Ruticilla are either bluish (the majority of the species), 

 occasionally, though faintly, spotted, or white (R. titlii/,<s), and those in Mr. Rothschild's 

 Museum follow this rnle. Therefore I rather believe onr eggs to be the true eggs 

 oi R. frontali.i i\vAn tliose found by Przewalski, and my oiiinion is backed by the 

 eggs described as probably bcdonging to R. frontalix in (Dales' book (I.e.), although 



