formation that their circulation may elicit, and I earnestly 
entreat all who can to aid me* in gathering together materials, 
for areally satisfactory account of the nidificationt and eggs 
of our Indian Birds. 
* To enable me to select good characteristic type specimens for figuring, it 
is absolutely necessary to have before one a large series of the eggs of each 
species.—Moreover safe and useful generalizations can seldom be made, or 
in many cases useful descriptions written from only a few specimens.—I 
therefore trust that all those who have it in their power, will favour me not 
only with particulars as to the nidification, but also with as many specimens as 
they conveniently can of the eggs of all those species, of which the text 
shows that these are still desiderata. Those disposed to assist, should address 
me direct at Agra. 
+ So few, even of professed ornithologists, in India, at all realize the im- 
portance of oology as an element in classification, that I venture to reproduce 
some pregnant remarks on this subject, which appeared in the Ibis of 1867, 
from Mr. 'Tristram’s pen. 
“There are two very distinct tides of sylviad immigration in Palestine, 
In October and November, thousands of the hardier species pour down 
into the lowlands and wadys, where they remain till February or March. Then, 
for a month, the land is left almost deserted till in April and May the spring 
arrivals commence, and every thicket is tenanted by species either strange 
to our shores, or known only by the occasional capture of a straggler. Such 
are S. Orphea, Aedon Galactodes, Hypolais Elaica and H. Upcheri.. We 
were especially fortunate in our opportunities of watching the nidification 
of the less known species, and I believe there is no class of birds in which 
the style of architecture, with the coloration and form of the egg, casts more 
light on the true grouping of species and the arrangement of genera. Pos- 
sessed of a good series of the eggs of the Luscinide, we might classify the 
species accordingly, and find that we had scarcely in one instance diverged 
from the recognized order of our best systematists. Thus the unique egg of 
Cettia Sericea separates it at once from all our other Palearctic warblers, 
and points out its affinities to the long-tailed Prinia group of the Indian 
region. Then the the eggs of Savi’s, and the grasshopper warbler, group 
them apart and link them to the very similar eggs of the Australian Megalurus 
and Calamanthus, Cisticola and Drymeca, varying, as they do still vary, 
within the same limits as the oriental Prinia and Orthotomus, to which we 
must admit their affinities. The egg of Aedon stands out alone, steadily de- 
manding a distinct and isolated position, which all who are familiar with its 
manners and note will readily grant, but approaching in habit, as in its 
eges, the Indian Thainnobie. 
The great group of Calamoherpe, from whatever part of the world they 
come, have but one unmistakeable character of egg, sharply defined from all 
the other groups. The beautiful and fragile eggs of every member of the 
genus Hypolais, though each distinct in markings and in ground-colour, 
from the richest salmon hue to pale ashy white, but all of a peculiar rough 
texture, are a group almost as isolated and peculiar as Pycnonotus, with 
no affinities approaching Phyl/opneuste. These again, though infinitely 
varying within themselves, disclaim alliance with any of the other sylviads. 
We then have the genus Sylvia as restricted by Bonaparte, of which our 
white throat is the type, with its greenish ground colour and the spotting 
