30I 



•(b). Cuckoo in Meadow Pipit's nest. 



(c). A card showing both extremes, the smallest egg of the 

 Humming Bird by the side of the Ostrich. 



5. — Tkxturk of Surfack : 



(a). Extremely smooth and polished. 



(d). Smooth and glossy. 



(c). Dull and chalky 



{d). Calcareous film. 



((?). Surface granular or pitted. 



Specimens of : 

 (a). Chilian Tinamou and Rufous Tinamou, just like glazed 



porcelain. 

 (b). Great Black Woodpecker, Kingfisher, and Tinamou. 

 (c). Black-headed Ibis, Nicobar Megapode, and White-headed 



Duck. 

 (d). Rough-faced Shag, Aui (outer chalky layer removed in 



part exposing a slate blue surface). 



Sclavonian Grebe (ditto, only exposing a white surface). 



Guira, a parasitic bird, peculiar in that several hens lay 



their eggs in one nest. Kggs are quite unique slate blue, 



dotted over with white chalky raised spots giving the 



aspect of some well knowu pottery. 



Rosy Flamingo. 

 (e). Emu. 



6. — Coi^ouR : 



Colour has no relation to that of parent bird white is 

 probably the primary colour of birds as in reptiles. 



Eggs of birds laid in holes either in earth or trees 

 entirely concealed from light are mostly white. 



The larger number of eggs are variously coloured by 

 deposit of pigment on or near outer surface of shell, it 

 may be in irregular washes, blotches, more or less circular 

 spots or lines upon either a white or uniformly coloured 

 ground. The significance of the various modes of colour 

 is not understood at all at present. 



It often happens that the different species of a natural 

 group of birds present a general similarity in the style of 

 colouration of their eggs, or in other words that nearly 



