PROCELLARIA PELAGICA. 4.49 
§ 5155. Zwenty—Orkney, 1851. From Mr. George Harvey. 
Out of forty-two, of which I proceed to make a careful examination, 
and to select some to be kept for my cabinet. First, as to their. 
general condition, all are more or less stained, apparently in the 
nest, differing therein from the very fresh ones I took in Ferée 
[$ 5152}. Beside the general stains there are on some of them 
small specks, very similar in aspect to the genuine markings, but 
sometimes smudged, and more easily rubbed off. These are perhaps 
the dung of parasites. (Adams, of the Bass Rock, knows the age of 
the Solan Geese’s eggs by the droppings of parasites upon them.) 
After these specks are rubbed off with a bit of wet silk, a faint 
brownish stain remains; but I have only tried the experiment on one 
or two—the others have not been touched with water since they came 
into my hands, The extremes in size differ considerably; the 
largest might almost be a Leach’s Petrel’s, only that bird has not yet 
been detected in Orkney. In shape there is no great variety: some 
are wider in proportion to their length than others. There is usually 
a slight difference in the size of the two ends, but it is not much 
marked. With respect to markings, nearly all have them more or 
less, and there are only three or four free from them. The others 
have a zone, more or less defined, of dots toward the larger end in 
all except one, where it is toward the smaller end. In some this zone 
is so diffluent as to be scarcely recognizable; in others it is very 
distinct, even to the extent of having the appearance of being a stain 
on the shell itself. The diameter of the inner circle of this zone is 
very variable and may almost disappear. Again, the zone may be 
nearly equidistant from the equator or the pole. In width it may be 
about one-fifth of this distance. It ceases less suddenly in its large 
than in its small circumference, and specks are frequently scattered 
from it over the whole egg. The size of the specks differs both in the 
same and different eggs. The largest are generally in the middle or 
towards the inner circle of the zone. These specks appear generally 
black, but in one at least they are brown. In three eggs there is an 
appearance of a secondary larger kind of marking of a bluish or ash- 
colour, as in eggs of the Puffin. It is very distinct in one of them. 
There are eight others of these eggs which I may keep, in the mean- 
while marked “ Cab.” 
§ 5156. One.—Ferée, 1851. From Sysselmand Winther. 
Four others given to Mr. Proctor. 
PART IV. ; 2G 
