TURDIDAE-MUSCICAPIDAE. 



of this cave-breeder renders it, in my opinion, worth while 

 that attention should remain fixed on the matter and relevant 

 notes made. 



CYANECULA SUECICA CYANECULA (WOLF). 



Dresser ') states that in his collection the eggs derived from 

 Holland are the largest (dimensions 20 X 15 millimetres). 



Fig. 15 of plate 5 in Dresser's work depicts a coffee brown egg 

 which fully corresponds to one of the luscinia-types. 



PHOENICURUS TITYS (L.). 



Oberbeck 2 ) rightly remarks that upon examining apparently un- 

 spotted eggs with a magnifying glass many (perhaps even most) 

 are seen to bear a few fine rusty red specks which escape the 

 unaided eye. 



In the Kleinschmidt collection 3 ) there is a red-speckled set of 

 eggs with a yellowish ground colour; Seebohm 4 ) also mentions 

 similar aberrations in respect of the ground colour. Up to the present 

 I have never seen such aberrations. I consider them to be remark- 

 able on account of their approach to certain eggs of E. rubecula. 



It is of importance that attention should remain fixed on the 

 bluish eggs which form transitions from the type of this species to 

 that of phoenicurus, and to ascertain whether these continually recur 

 in the case of particular female birds. 



*) 1. c. page 111. 



2 ) See: „Zur Fleckenfarbe der Vogeleier" (Zeitschr. f. Ool. u. Ornith., XVIII, 

 p. 169—185). 



3 ) Naumann, 1. c, I, p. 57. 



*) Eggs of British Birds, p. 188. 



