258 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vii. 



yellowish-brown to black and deep blood-red. Mr. J. M. 

 Goodall has some magnificent specimens of the " port 

 wine " red type. 



[Brunnich's Guillemot {U. I. lomvia). — These eggs 

 lend to vary in the same way, but to a much smaller extent, 

 and we have never seen a well coloured " red " egg.] 



[Note. — Mr. Goodall possesses an extraordinary^ clutch 

 of the Moorhen {Gallinula c. chloropus) which is entirely 

 covered by an orange-red deposit. As this is probably 

 caused by the deposit of ferrous oxide, it is of course not 

 due to erythrism. In F. C. R. Jourdain's collection is a 

 set of three eggs of the Purple Gallinule {Porphyrio cceruleus), 

 two of which are distinctly erj^thristic ; but as there 

 appears to be no variation towards blue or green coloration, 

 these have little claim to consideration here. The same 

 applies also to the erythristic eggs of the game-birds, 

 among which may be mentioned the Capercaillie {Tetmo 

 urogallus) of which Mr. Staines Boorman has a remarkable 

 red set from KuTiemuir laid on bright red beech leaves, 

 and the Red Grouse, Ptarmigan, Quail, etc., in which the 

 usual brownish-black markings are sometimes replaced by 

 blood-red. Eggs of the Green Woodpecker (Suffolk) have 

 been recorded as " blotched and spotted with reddish- 

 brown " {Zoologist, 1848, p. 2229 ; and 1850, p. 2923). This 

 was doubtless caused by a vegetable stain.] 



Section II. 



Starlixg {Sturnus v. vulgaris). — Mr. A. Hardy states 

 that he found an egg at Alderley Edge in 1905 which was 

 distinctly spotted witli red, and Mr. J. Whitaker also picked 

 up an egg similarly marked at Ramworth, Notts.* 



Rock-Thrush {Monticola saxatilis). — In this species two 

 types of eggs are found, one blue without markings, and 

 the other with fine f recklings of reddish-brown, f 



Wheatear {(Enanthe oe. oenanthe). — Eggs of this species 

 are occasionally found more or less distinctly marked 

 with fine reddish-brown spots. Rey figures an egg of this 

 description unusually boklly marked. 



[Isabelline Wheatear {(E. isahellina). — A clutch 

 ascribed to this species in the British Museum, taken on 

 Mount Hermon in June, 1864, is distmctly spotted, but in 



* In the South African genus Spreo, eggs profusely marked with 

 red are found as well as the normal blue type. 



t These remarks also apply to the Blue Rock-Thrush {M. solitarius) 

 in which bird the latter type of egg is normal. 



