Henninger — OiV Eggs Supposed New to Science. Ill) 



ON SOME EGGS SUPPOSED TO BE NEW TO 

 SCIENCE. 



BY VV. F. HENNINGER. 



Lately it has been my g-ood fortune to come into the pos- 

 sesssion of some eggs, which hitherto have remained unde- 

 scribed to my knowledge. They have perhaps been taken pre- 

 viously, but nothing seems to have been published concerning 

 them in our leading bird journals or bird books. And if so, 

 it might still be of some use to the readers of the Bulletin to 

 have before them an accurate account o f them, easily acces- 

 sible. 



The first species, whose eggs I wish to describe are those 

 of the Slatybacked Gull {Lams schistisagus). There are 

 three sets of them, one of 3, one of 2, and one of 1, a very 

 large egg, abnormal in size and coloration. They were all 

 taken on the coast of Siberia, near the Bering Strait, on June 

 4, 1905. The nest was a mere depression or hollow in some 

 moss. Just as the bird itself is intermediate in size between 

 Lams niarinus and Lams cachinnans, the eggs show the same 

 relation, barring the one of abnormal size, which is equal in 

 size to those of marinus, measuring SI x 52 mm. The other 

 five measure TG x 52 : 71 x 51 ; ()9 x 49.5 ; 76.25 x 54 ; 72 x 53. 

 The six eggs average 74.28 x 51.91. 



The other species are Allen's Ptarmigan (Lagopits lagopiis 

 allcni) and Welch's Ptarmigan (Lagopus zvclchi). Major 

 Bendire expressed the opinion that these eggs would prove to 

 be indistinguishable from those of Lagopus lagopus proper 

 and Lagopus rupcstris. And this is exactly the case. I have 

 handled hundreds of Ptarmigan eggs in the past in Europe 

 and find that here are no distinguishing features that prove 

 to be constant. The two sets have eight eggs each, Allen's 

 Ptamigan's eggs were taken June 6, 1900, Welch's on June 1, 

 1900, both of course in Newfoundland. Both nests were prac- 

 tically alike in structure, according to the data. The eight 

 Allen's Ptarmigan's eggs measure 41 x 30 ; 43.5 x 31 ; 45 x 31 ; 

 44 X 32 ; 40 x 31 ; 44.5 x 31 ; 44.5 x 31 ; 43 x 31, and they have 



