Family ANATIDAE. 

 (Plates 181-189). 



„Inter omnium avium vero ova Anatidarum 



„dif(icillime distingui possunt". 



(Dr. A. Hansmann, Conspectus genera- 

 lis ovoruni avium Europam habitantiuin. 

 Diss, inaug. Kiliae, MDCCCLX. p. 10). 



So far as I have been able to ascertain, des Murs has up to tlie 

 present been the only oologist who has examined the pigmentation 

 of the eggshell of Anatidae somewhat more closely than only at 

 the surface. 



Where, however, that author states: ') „La couleur est superposee 

 „a la surface de la coquille dont la composition interne n'en emprunte 

 „rien ou que fort peu de chose", 1 have ascertained, as will be seen 

 from what is subjoined, that when examining the shell he remained 

 very near the surface; and that von Konig-Warthausen's asser- 

 tion ''): „Bei den Anatiden liegt die Farbung gewohnlich nur in 

 „einem schleimigen Ueberzug" (which I call glutinous layer) is 

 incorrect. 



') 0. DES Mors, Traite general d'Oologie ornithologique. Paris, 1860, p. 457. 



-) Dr. Baron R. von Koniu-Warthausen, Ueber die zur Unterscheidung 

 der Vogeleier dienenden Merkmale, in: Wurttemb. naturw. Jahreshefte, 1876, 

 p. 180, note. 



