448 On PalaarcHc Birds' Eggs. 



fifteen feet, most often in a clierry-tree about ten feet from 

 the ground. Eggs were taken from the 12th of May to the 

 28th of July. I have compared specimens from Japan with 

 those obtained by Mr. Popham, and two, from one clutch, 

 agree very closely with fig. 13, but all the rest, though of 

 the same type, are more finely marked, paler, and con- 

 siderably larger, measuring 1-24 by 0-82 to 1-36 by 0-86 in., 

 while none of the Japanese eggs have the ground-colour 

 bluish, as is the case with almost all those from the Yenesei. 



Glaucidium PASSERiNUM (Liuu.). Pigmy Owl. 



Dr. Rey, in his ' Eier der Yogel Mitteleuropas,^ now in 



course of publication (p. 57), on the authority of Mr. 



Othmar E-eiser of Sarajevo, casts doubt on the authenticity 



of the eggs of this Owl taken in April 1862 near Cilli by the 



late Mr. E. Seidensacher^ and says that without doubt 



those of Nyctala tengmalmi were mistaken for them. One 



of them is in my collection, and I have carefully compared 



it with eggs of N. tengmalmi taken in Norway, and with a 



clutch of the same taken near Cilli by Mr. Seidensacher, and 



I certainly cannot endorse Mr. Reiser's opinion. The egg 



of G.passerinum is considerably smaller than any that I have 



seen of N. tengmalmi, and in fact than any egg of Scops giu in 



my collection. Besides, Seidensacher was a most careful 



observer, and was well acquainted with all the birds in his 



neighbourhood. I can also testify to his extreme care in 



the identification of eggs, more esjiccially of the rarer 



species, having collected in company with him for one season 



in the vicinity of Cilli. Mr. Reiser claims authenticity for 



two eggs taken by the Rev. Blasius Hanf, near Eurtteich, 



against those taken by Seidensacher, but does not say 



how they were identified or whether Mr. Hanf obtained 



the parent bird, so I conclude that he did not do so. 



On the whole, especially as I know how careful and con- 

 scientious a collector Seidensacher was, I still believe fully 

 in the authenticity of the eggs which he identified as those of 

 G. passerinum. Mr. Reiser further states that there is only 

 one of these eggs in the collection of Baron Richard Koenig 



