Mr. J. Wolley on the Breeding uf the Smew. 75 



Of the first egg, the widest part is exactly halfway down ; 

 hut in one direction the inferior fulness of the curve points out 

 which is the small end of the egg ; though, were there cut out of 

 the middle of each end a piece of the shell bounded by a circle 

 of a quarter of an inch in radius, I think, as the pieces lay upon 

 a level surface, the piece from the small end of the egg would be 

 found less elevated than the other piece. In other words, the 

 sDiall end of the egg is even more flattened than the large end, 

 though the flattened area there is not so extensive as that of the 

 large end. 



Of the second egg, the conjugate diameter is nearer to the 

 large end than it is to the small end, the proportion of the 

 distances being as 9 to 10. The curve towards the small end is 

 less suddenly changed than in the egg last described, though 

 still the present egg is very broad at the small end. 



The third egg is equally flat at the small end with the second ; 

 but it is rather less curved from the broadest part to the com- 

 mencement of this flat end. 



The fourth is still narrower than the last, before the flatness 

 of the small end commences. 



I have previously alluded to the texture and the colour of 

 these eggs. 



I have seen a MS. list of birds from the German naturalist 

 Herr HofFmansegg, then resident in Archangel, from which it 

 appears that Meryus alhellus occurs in that neighbourhood, which 

 is considerably more southerly than Muonioniska, or Sodankyla. 

 As I did not hear of it on the north or north-east coast of 

 Norway, and as it is not known to breed in Sweden, I should 

 be inclined to suppose it generally an eastern and northern 

 bird. 



It is worthy of note, that the very pale colour of the down of 

 the Smew seems to be connected with its choosing holes for 



