488 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



tross (D. albatrus), which lay a "nearly equal-ended white egg," and 

 where for many ages there may have been no special reason for it to 

 take on any other form or a pattern of varied coloration, possibly may 

 have done so through a long line of avian ancestors (sixth law). 

 Among the Aleve I am not sure whether Alle lays its two unitiuted 

 eggs in a concealed nest or the reverse. Otherwise the coloration of the 

 eggs of the birds of this group can all be explained under the second, 

 third, and eighth laws as given above. I am inclined to think that the 

 handsomely marked eggs laid by the Longipennes gain protection under 

 the operation of the fifth law, and in many cases where 1 have collected 

 the eggs of Gulls and Terns I have noticed that they often harmonize 

 admirably with their surroundings. It is almost a universally con- 

 ceded fact that this is distinctly so in the case of the Limicolw, where 

 it is sometimes most beautifully exemplified. 



Bitterns among the Herodiones are striking examples where the 

 species lay unitiuted eggs, but the sitting bird has a plumage that is 

 in complete harmony with the environment of the nest. Even the 

 long pointed brown or dark-green feathers of the back and head simu- 

 late the thin lengthy sedge leaves when matted in mass on the ground. 

 With Herons which build in trees such a protection is less evident. In 

 the Rallidce both the plumage of the bird and the coloration of the eggs 

 themselves arc protective. This is also the case with the GruidcB, an- 

 other family of the Paludioolce. 



Passing next to the Steganopodes we meet with another group of 

 bird forms, morphologically more or less lowly organized, which for 

 ages in the world's history have probably laid their eggs in the most 

 inaccessible of places, and it is just possible that the eggs they now 

 lay, sometimes single and sometimes few (Cormorants), may be more or 

 less like those that were laid by their very early ancestors. The 

 elliptical white eggs of the Sulidce, covered with a calcareous crust, are 

 very different affairs from the more ordinary appearing eggs of water 

 birds higher in the scale of organized bird life. And, notwithstanding 

 their evident anserine affinities this may also apply to the Flamingoes 

 (OdontoglosscB). 



Oologists generally express the opinion that the pale unitiuted eggs 

 of the Anseres are protected against the pillaging of ordinary maraud- 

 ers, from the fact that nearly all birds of this group build their nests 

 or lay their eggs in inaccessible localities (eighth law). It must be 

 remembered, however, and it is a very interesting fact, that in the case 

 of the Swans (Cygnince) the dull white shells of their eggs are frequently 

 adventitiously stained by the soil and especially by the wet and decay- 

 ing vegetation composing the rude nest in which they are deposited. 

 This often discolors them with a brownish, dirty shade, thus rendering 

 them the more difficult to be seen upon casual observation. This 

 applies likewise to the eggs of many Ducks (Anatince). But Ducks, too, 

 often lay drab, greenish or buffy tinted eggs harmonizing with their 



