40 Mr. J. D. D. La Touclic on tlie 



Our men brought us a clutch in 1896, taken in May, and 

 three clutches in ]897, taken about Kuatun on the 5th, 7th, 

 and 11th IMay. Two eggs in my collection out of the clutch 

 (three eggs) taken in May 1896, and the clutch of four eggs 

 taken on the 7th May, 1897, are of a l)rownish green, very 

 closely freckled with more or less light brownish ; but the 

 ground-colour of the three eggs taken on the 21st April, 

 1898, is a pure light green. The older eggs have possibly 

 faded, although I must say that a description of these eggs, 

 taken in 1897, gives them as being of a very pale brownish 

 sap-green. All these eggs have a dark-brown hair-line 

 about the large or small end. This line is easily soluble in 

 water. One of the eggs dated May 189G is ovate, the 

 second is a narrow and nearly perfect oval. They measure 

 1 -.25 X 0-86 and M8 x 0-88 inch. Two of those dated 7th May, 

 1 897, are ovate, with pointed apex, and the other two are 

 nearly oval, with both ends pointed. They measure 1*28 X 

 0-95, 1-25 X 0-91, 1-20 X 0-92, and 1-20 X 0-90 inch. The 

 eggs of the third clutch, dated 21st April, 1898, are a rather 

 broad ovate; they measure r20x0"92, 1-17 X 0-91, and 

 1-15x0 92 inch. 



129. Urocissa sinensis (L.). 



A common bird all over Fohkien. On the 25th April, 

 1898, we took a clutch of five eggs from a nest placed on a 

 tree in the valley below Kuatun. These were much incu- 

 bated. The colour is a pale yellowish or greenish clay, M'ith 

 spots and longitudinal splashes of somewhat pale and dull 

 reddish brown and reddish grey (underlying) . The markings 

 on four eggs are concentrated on the large end, where they 

 form a well-marked crown or cap, and where the under- 

 Ijing splashes are confluent, the rest of the e^^ being but 

 sparsely marked. In the fifth egg there is a broad ring 

 round the small end, the rest of the egg, as in the others, 

 being but lightly marked. In shape these eggs are ovate, 

 inclining to oval, oue being almost oval. They measure 

 1-27 X 0-93, 1-26 X 0-92, 1 •26x0-91, 1-25 x 091, and 1-23 x 

 092 inch. 



