VOL. VII.] ERYTHRISM IN EGGS. 247 



Rook [C. f. frugilegus). — The beautiful red varietj^ of 

 tJie Rook's egg has occurred several times in Germany, but 

 lias never been foujid in these islands. Baron von Konig- 

 Warthausen obtained three clutches (eleven eggs) of this 

 type in the years 1891 and 1893 {Zeitschr. f. Oologie, V., 

 Jahrg., p. 6), and J. von Wangelin obtained two red eggs 

 in 1896, one of which is figured in the Neuer Naumann, 

 Vol. IV., 47, fig. 26, and Jourdain {Eggs of European Birds, 

 pi. 41. See Ornith. Monatsschr., 1898, p. 264). 



Magpie {Pica p. pica). — ^A. Kricheldorff {Zeitschr. /. 

 Oologie, XIII., p. 10) states that the red variety occurs in 

 this species : and F. C. R. Jourdain took a clutch of six 

 eggs near Ashburne, Derbyshire, May 4th, 1900, in which 

 t\vo eggs show distinctly erythristic colouring.* 



Jay {Garndus g. rufitergum). — Mr. H. S. Davenport took 

 a clutch of delicate pink eggs in Shobden Wood, Hereford, 

 in 1887, which were formerly in the possession of Mr. L. 

 Field, and are probably now in the Calke Abbey collection. 

 Mr. P. F. Bunyard exhibited a set of six eggs (Northants, 

 1907) to the British Ornithologists' Club {Bulletin B.O.C., 

 Oct., 1918) Avhich are of a pale yellowish-red colour, and 

 similar eggs from the New Forest and the Continent are 

 in his collection. 



[The normal type of the Chough's egg shows a distinct 

 tendency to erythrism. Some eggs, both from Ireland 

 and Spain, have warm red-brown spots. Jf 



Hawfinch {Coccothraustes c. coccothraustes). — A scarce 

 variety, with a creamy ground and. reddish-yellow markings, 

 has been taken in England on several occasions, cliiefly 

 in the south-eastern counties (Kent, Essex, Suffolk, etc.) 

 and also in Germany (Brit. Museum). 



Greenfinch {Chloris c. chloris). — In some sets the light 

 blue tinge is entirely absent from the ground-colour, and 

 is replaced by faint reddish-white, while the markings are 



* Kricheldorff {loc. cit. ) states that the erythristic type, with 

 pink ground and red spots, also occurs in the Moorish Magpie 

 {Pica p. mauritanica). 



f Some foreign species of this familj^^ have eggs which are normally 

 erythristic in colour. The best-known example is the Cape Rook 

 {Corviis capensis), the eggs of which are always of this type {Cat. 

 Eggs Brit. Mus., Vol. V., pi. xxi., figs. 4, 5). Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker 

 has also a remarkable set of erythristic eggs of C. splendens, and in 

 some species of the genus Dendrocitfa the red type is normal or 

 practically so. The eggs of Urocissa occipitalis furnish a good 

 erythristic variation, and in Cissa sinensis the eggs range from white 

 to reddish. 



