406 Herr Badeker's and Dr. Brewer's Oulogical Works. 



the existence there of many of the ' Desideratissima ' of our col- 

 lections. It does not appear that any egg — certainly not of any 

 so-called " British Bird " * — is as yet figured in this work, of 

 which one Oologist or another in this country has not examples, 

 often of the best possible authenticity. This brings us to make 

 a few remarks on the progress which egg-collecting has made 

 within the last few years among ourselves. 



We have now before us the cover of Part V. of Mr. Hewit- 

 son's second work (the fi7'st edition of the " Eggs of British 

 Birds'^), bearing date "1st November, 184-3," on which that 

 gentleman printed a list of what were then, as far as he knew, 

 'Desiderata' to English collections. This list contains 52 species, 

 10 of which he subsequently obtained in time to figure them in 

 that edition. Of the remainder, 15 more were represented in 

 his third work, completed in 1856 f- From this, however, he left 

 out one — very properly considering that, though he had before 

 included it, the specimen figured was not sufficiently authentic. 

 This made the real increase 14, and the number still required 

 28. Of these at least 8 are now in British cabinets, and one is 

 a doubtful, not to say a bad species, which thus reduces the 

 number of 'Desiderata' to 19. To this number 16 more must 

 be added, to allow for those species which have of late been 

 included with sufficient reason in the British list, or respecting 

 the eggs of which, though they may have been figured, justifiable 

 doubts may be entertained. Thus we obtain a final result of 

 35, as probably representing the existing deficiencies in the 

 Oology of these islands. These 35 are, in our opinion, as 

 follows : — 



Swallow-tailed Kite. Parrot Crossbill. 



Snowy Owl. European White-winged Crossbill. 



White's Thrush. American White-winged Crossbill. 



Gold-vented Thrush. Nutcracker. 



Dalmatian Regulus. MacQueen's Bustard. 



* The European White-winged Crossbill can hardly be said to be an ex- 

 ception, for the egg represented (PI. xx. fig. 10), though " beglaubigt 

 achte," was laid in a cage. 



t We must not be misunderstood to mean that Mr. Hewitson's third 

 edition comprised only 15 more species than his second, but that these 15 

 were included in his list of ' Desiderata ' above mentioned. 



