388 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
cuillemot, which is a little smaller than the wood-pigeon, lays an 
egg larger than that of a goose. 
Of all European birds the great penguin lays the largest egg. 
It is eagerly sought after by amateurs, and is becoming every day 
more rare. At the present time £20 or 430 is paid for a specimen. 
Petrels lay white eggs, goosanders yellow, and those of the duck 
are greenish. Gulls lay olive-coloured eggs, with a brown marbling 
which is generally closer and darker towards the thicker end. The 
great penguin, just mentioned, lays an egg of a yellowish-white 
tint, with rays and spots, not very numerous, which, Temminck 
says, remind one of the singular forms of Chinese characters. 
THE NORTHERN DIVER. 
(Colymbus glacialis.) 
The guillemot produces an egg still more remarkable for the 
lines or zigzags with which the shell is decorated. The eggs of the 
northern diver are the darkest of all that are known. They are 
chocolate, with an olive tint, and are marked with irregular black 
spots. The eggs of the cormorants and gannets are covered with 
a white cretaceous, or chalky plaster, which may be easily removed 
with the nail. This plaster is so friable on the egg of the red 
cormorant (Phenicopterus ruber), that if the shell be gently passed 
along the sleeve of a coat, it will be whitened as if it had been 
rubbed with a piece of chalk. 
