472 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



Dr. Coues makes no record of the characters of the egg of Pha'tfbhon 

 in Ms "Key" (pp. 731, 732), but Ridgway describes the egg of the 

 genus (common char.) as " egg ovate, dilute claret-brown or whitish, 

 speckled, sprinkled, spotted or blotched with deep claret-brown' 1 (p. 

 74). Dr. Sharpe says of his Phaethontes, " Egg, one only j mottled 

 reddish-brown" (p. 76). This is a curious departure from the steganop- 

 odous birds generally, and so far as it goes, reminds us of the Longi- 

 pennes in color, that is being spotted, but Steganopodes, in being but 

 one of them laid. 



Prof. Newton says Sula bassana lays only a "single egg" with 

 "a white shell of the same chalky character as a Comorant" (A. n., Art. 

 "Gannet," Encyl. Brit., vol. x, p. 71), but that Pelecanus, or the Pelicans, 

 lay "2 eggs commonly" (Art. " Pelican," loo. oit., vol. xvm, p. 475). Here 

 certainly authors do differ most widely. Dr. Sharpe declaring that 

 Pelicans lay but "one egg only." Prof. Newton says two, and Ridg- 

 way says they lay as many as four. 



A similar diversity of opinion appears to be extended to the oology 

 of the representatives of the next group of birds, the Odontogloss^e. 



Prof. Sharpe says the Flamingoes lay a " single white egg "(7. c, 

 p. 70), while most other authorities claim the clutch consists of two 

 for those birds. Ridgway says " eggs [not how many] are pure chalk- 

 white and of an elongate ovate, or cylindrical ovate " form. (Manual 

 p. 121.) Possibly he may mean two or more. 



Dr. Cones is positive about it when he observes for Phoenicopteriis 

 ruber, " Eggs 2, 3.2.~>x 2.10, with thick shells, roughened with white 

 flaky substance, blnish when this is scraped away" (p. 070). Flamin- 

 goes' eggs have been known for a long time, and Newton, quoting 

 Dampier, observes* that these birds •' never lay more than two eggs 

 and seldom fewer." 



Coming next to the Swans, Geese, Ducks, and their allies (Anseres), 

 the statements are more uniform in character, and the general one of Dr. 

 Coues "the eggs are usually of some plain pale color, as greenish, drab, 

 or creamy; the clutch varies in number, commonly ranging from half 

 a dozen to a dozen and a half" (p. 081); or that of Dr. Sharpe, "eggs 

 numerous, creamy buff, or greenish white, or pure white" (p. 70), will 

 probably cover the ground. Our Swans lay from 2 to 5 eggs, rough- 

 shelled, and of a dull white color (Coues), while among the Geese we find 

 Philaete canagica lays 5 eggs, which are white, "with fine pale brown 

 (lotting, giving a general pale dirty brown color," and Branta canaden- 

 sis lays as many as ""5 to 9, ellipsoidal, smooth, pale dull greenish" 

 (Cones, pp. 686-688). The number becomes still greater among the 

 Ducks, and our American Wigeon (M. americana) often lays as 

 many as 1 li eggs of a "dull pale buff" color, and the little Baffle-head 

 (O. albeola) as many as 14, they being of an ellipsoidal form and of a 

 "buft'y-drab tint (between greenish-olive and rich creamy-white" 



'Newton, A. : Art. " Flamingo," Encycl. Brit. vol. ix, p. 286, cites Dampier, New 

 Voyage round the World, ed. 2, corrected, vol. i, p. 71, London, 1697. 



