An Islam? on thr THrcr Jhrhiw Pini'iah. 240 



nosis of all wiM'c llx- ordinary st nicliiic ol" s! icks, and tln^ only 

 onos that avsto (list in,-:!!! dialdc I'l'om t!io;(' of otlioi' s|)Cfie.s were 

 tlio small plal forms of [\\o Pond TTei-ons. 



Tlio noises made l»v tbo Iloi-ons woi-o most (•ui'ioiis-- 

 nsually a kind of rather fi-o,i;-lik<^ rroak, or a surglo, which' 

 ill tlii^ ('\('il(Mni'iit of an oocasional squabhic were exohanj^ofl for 

 liarsli (|uai-ks that mii,'-ht well have been uttered by an a,£ritated 

 duck. 



The o^ix>i of all four species of TTeron nestintr in Ihf 

 eolony were of courso of the typical blue-^n'oon co'onr, but bv 

 eareful examination T fiMind tint the e,c:,ir^^ nii.tjht usually be 

 dist,in,2:uished as follows: 



Horad'a'i rra>-zr/fn and Bi(hulrus rornmmvhin lay e.^ci^s 

 rou.ijhly the sanio size, but tho-;e of the latter tend to be 

 sliirhMy lar.crer: the colour however is very distinctive (as 

 l-.c'woen these two specie for the eg'g's of B . qafri'Ha ■,\r<^ 

 a much de -per b'u'^-,e:reen, those of B. coromandns beinj? more 

 properly described as white tinged with bluish -green. "Whereas 

 71. qarzcffa usually lays 5 or 6 eggs, B. coromanrfvs seldom 

 lays more than 4. The eggs of NycUcorax cfrisew^ are dis- 

 tinguishable by their larger size from those of Ardenia qrajii 

 and Herod ia-i fia>-zr'fa, and usually from those of Bnhulcus 

 coromanihc^. but large eggs of the latter approximate to small 

 eggs of 'the former ; in such cases the deeper colour would 

 -erve to I'dentifv tln^ eggs of .Y. gri'^ens. 



The eggs of Ardeola cfcn/? which are of the deeper 

 blue-gi'cen Heron type may be distinguished from those of the 

 other three species by their small size. 



The measurements in millimetres, of eggs recorded in 

 my notes give the following results: 



Xi/c'icorn.r cjriseus: 6 eggs; length 40-4().r): breadtli 

 .T4-.3f5..5; average 48 x 35.5. 



yi/Hicorax griscns: eggs; lencrth J0-4(i.r); l)readth 

 ;;i-.S4; average 44 x 33. 



Bubidcus coromandns: 22 eggs; length 42-4 7.5; breadtli 

 33-35.5; average 44.5 x 34.5 



Ardeola grai/i: 30 eggs; length 30-41. 5: breadth 27 x 

 3 1.5; average 39 x 29. 5 . 



I visited the island on several occasions and always 

 found Cornis .splo/dcns numerous in the trees. Knowing the 



