204 117 77/ XArriih: and a CAMEL' J. 



I first discovorcd it coiitaincd only one eg'ii' — the one 

 witli tlie largo blotches iii)Oii it in the illustration of a 

 clutch of Tre(^ Sparrow's eggs on the j)rec(Hliug page. 

 1 visited the nest again exactly a week later, and 

 Avas surprised to find that it had six more eggs in it, 

 all very similar to eacli other, hut diH'ering Avidel\' 

 from the iirst one laid. My observations proved 

 that in this case, at any rate, the ('ij;g, unlike the 

 rest of tlios(^ in the clutch in the character of its 

 markings, was laid first, and that the species can 

 upoi 



I occasion lav at least one more e<i'<'' tlian it 



nn 



has been given credit for even by our greatest 

 autlioritics on British ornithology, who place the 

 outside limit of a clutch of Tree Sparrow's cg<2;s at 

 six in number. 



It is surprising how much is expected of a man 

 who takes an interest in l)irds and their eggs by 

 people who know little or nothing of the sul)ject 

 themselves. They will ask him to identify all sorts 

 of eggs with certainty without a scrap of evidence 

 on their part saving the empty shell, and even go 

 so far as to paint white eggs with all kinds of 

 colours. A wag once sent me a small domestic 

 fowl's egf^, very cleverly marked with by no means 

 imreasonable colours, and a request that 1 sliould 

 identify it for him. I prom})tly re})lied that it was 

 a common Hund)ug's vg^ from ]5amboozle-'em-land. 



Although birds' eggs, as a rule, follow pretty 

 closely the common type of their species in regaid 

 to coloration and markings, extraordinary d(>par- 

 tm'es are sometimes met with, and 1 believe that 

 such variations are generally due to tlu' indifferent 

 health of their layers. I have once or twice nu't 

 Avith common AYrens' (>ggs without markings of any 

 sort, and some xears ago look a clutcli of })ure 

 white eirirs from a I louse Spariow's nest. I liave 



