490 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1802. 



trader to search for the nest. I have never had the opportunity to 

 observe how the subterfuge affects other animals below man. 



The Aceipitrine birds lay, as a rule, notoriously handsome eggs, but 

 they are commonly protected in two ways : (1) By the inaccessible places 

 where the species build their nests, as well as from the fact (2) that 

 many of the larger raptorial birds are fully capable of defending them 

 against robbery, often driving off man himself. Buzzards ( Gathardidce), 

 I believe, never defend their eggs by direct attack, nor do I personally 

 know of an instance where they vomit the contents of their stomachs 

 over the intruder, as 1 have had some of the Herons serve me (Ardea 

 virescens). It is a remarkable fact that the eggs of Gathartes and 

 Pseudogryphus differ so in their characters, and we have at present no 

 explanation to offer on the subject. It has its significance, however, 

 and future researches may solve such problems. Audubon states that 

 our Carolina Paroquet deposits its two eggs, which are light greenish- 

 white, in the hollow of a tree, and that many females of the species lay 

 them together at the bottom of the same cavity (Conurus: Psittact). 

 They are examples of the second law given above, and this apparently 

 applies with equal truth to the Trogones. 



Exactly why the Coccyges should lay either white or unitinted eggs 

 the present writer, at this time, does not pretend to know. They fall 

 under the exceptions to the third law, or are examples of somber- 

 plumaged birds that lay eggs like those to which reference has just 

 been made, in open and exposed nests. Possibly in the future such 

 circumstances as the tacts that G. americanus lays "glaucous-white" 

 eggs. G. erythrophthalmus •• verditer-blue" ones, and Geococcyx " white" 

 ones may aid, slender as such clues usually are, in unraveling the true 

 affinities of this group, but our knowledge in .such premises must then 

 be far more extensive than it is now. 



The oology of Alc yones, Pici, and Striges, in each and every group, 

 affords strong support to the truth of the second law and its general 

 proposition, as does that of all our caprimulgine birds (Caprimulgi), 

 save Phalceonoptilus nuttalli, support the truth of the fifth law. The 

 writer will be obliged to have the opportunities to study the surround- 

 ings of the places of deposit of the eggs of a great many Common and 

 Nuttall's Whip-poor-wills before expressing an opinion as to why the 

 first should lay an egg with a creamy-white shell, heavily marked with 

 browns and neutral tints, and the latter a white one. It is remarkable 

 in another light, tor Steatomis and the owls lay white eggs. 



Every variety of the means of protection exemplified in the case of 

 the eggs of birds is to be seen in the Trociiili. In the first place, the 

 eggs of Hummingbirds are inconspicuous from the fact that they are 

 so small and few in number. The nests, also small, are frequently so 

 constructed as to perfectly harmonize with the surroundings. The nests 

 are often built in very inaccessible places, and so, difficult to be seen 



