THE OOLOGISTS' RECORD, 



Edited by KENNETH L. SKINNER. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



Vol. Ill— No. 3.] [September 1, 1923. 



NOTES OF THE EGGS OF PALAEARCTIC 

 ACCIPITRES. 



By the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdaix, M.A., M.B.O.U., H.F.A.O.U. 



After reading the interesting accounts recently published by 

 Messrs. J. G. Gordon and H. K. Swann of their collections of 

 eggs of Accipitres, the surprising fact becomes apparent that if 

 these collections represent the sum of our knowledge of the eggs 

 of this family, considerably less than half of the eggs of the Accipitres 

 are known to science, and less than a quarter of the known 

 races are represented in the specialized collections of these two 

 collectors. 



The total number of forms represented in Messrs. Gordon's and 

 Swann's collections amounts to about 170. In the Palaearctic 

 region alone some 130 races are recorded, and in my own collection, 

 which consists mainly of Palaearctic eggs, about 82 of these forms 

 are illustrated, in nearly every case by clutches, and in the great 

 majority of instances by series of varying length. ' But the importance 

 of the collection lies in the fact that the eggs of over 40 per cent, of 

 these species have been actually taken by myself. In the case of a 

 specialized collection of the Accipitres of the world it is obviously 

 impossible for the collector to have worked seriously at this group 

 in all the great zoographical regions, but within the more restricted 

 limits of one region this ceases to be an impossibility. Of course 

 in the case of such species as the Iceland Falcon or Merlin this adds 

 nothing to the scientific value of the eggs as material, although it 

 does add very much to their interest. No one could mistake the 

 eggs of either of these species for those of any other falcon which 

 breeds in Iceland, so no possible doubt can exist as to their authen- 

 ticity if the source of origin be correctly given. When, on the 

 other hand, we come to the study of Mediterranean races of the 

 Peregrine Falcon, or to discriminate between the eggs of the Lanner 

 and Saker, we enter upon a different field altogether. The majority 



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