FALCONIDAE. 



of Halle a. S., an Oologist of great experience, kindly stated tome 

 recently: ,Von Circus oeruginosus kommen allerdings einzelne Eier 

 mit rotliclien Pigment-Flecken vor, indes nur uberaus selten, ich 

 mochte sagen unter 100 Gelegen befindet sich erst einmal 1 Ei, 

 resp. 1 Gelege, welches diese seltene Farbung aufweist." 



As regards this species, accessory spots have, no doubt, hitherto 

 frequently been taken for pigmentary spots. 



ASTUR PALUMBARIUS (L.). 



Eggs with red-brown pigment spots situated at the surface (in 

 layer 111) are as rare as they are in Circus aeruginosas, as Mr. 

 SCHLUTER informed me. Von Pet£nyi says of the spots of palum- 

 barius-eggs: „ . . . . sind bloss durch die schmutzigen Fiisse oder 

 durch die frischen, als Unterlage dienenden, beblatterten Zweige 

 dem noch weichen, frischgelegten Eie (read: the still damp upper 

 membrane) eingedriickt, also bloss zufallig, weshalb sie meist auf 

 der bauchigen Mitte der Eier vorkommen". This can of course only 

 relate to spots in layer III (= upper membrane); from Rey's des- 

 cription however, it appears indisputably that this author has seen 

 eggs exhibiting small light havana-brown spots on layers I and 11, 

 mentioned by me in respect of Circus cyaneus and Circus pypargus. 



The greyish or yellowish cloudy markings, which Rey speaks of, 

 1 hold to be locally thickened portions of the upper membrane 

 (layer III); 1 have seen eggs of which this membrane seemed to 

 me to be mixed with a very much diluted quantity of oorhodein, 

 and to be coloured a very light yellow by it. 



Otherwise, I regard what has been said above respecting accessory 

 and pigment spots in the case of Circus aeruginosus, to apply 

 equally here. 



