98 M. Gloger on the different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. 



conclude these observations with the words once used by Leopold 

 Von Buch, that we are very far from believing ourselves capable 

 of raising the veil, which may yet long envelope these ever- 

 memorable regions. 



Note— This Memoir of Hoffman will appear in a great work, at present 

 in the press, on the Geology, Antiquities, &c. of Rome, by the Prussian Ambas- 

 sador at Rome, M. TJunseu. It was communicated to Fogoekdobf for his 

 excellent Annalen, from which it has been translated from the German by a 

 young friend, for this Journal — Edit. 



On the Different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. By M. Gloger. 



Xt is a remarkable circumstance that the birds, whose nests and 

 eggs are more exposed to the view of their enemies than those 

 of other animals, lay eggs, the colour of which is scarcely distin- 

 guishable from that of surrounding objects, by which the eye of 

 rapacious birds or other animals is deceived ; while the birds, 

 whose eggs are of a bright colour, and consequently capable of 

 attracting notice, conceal their nests in hollow trees or elsewhere, 

 or leave their eggs only at night, or continue to sit upon them 

 from the period of parturition. It is to be observed also, that 

 in the species whose nest is exposed, and in which the females 

 take charge of the eggs, without the males troubling themselves 

 about them, these females are commonly of a different colour 

 from the males, and more in harmony with the tints of sur- 

 rounding objects. 



Nature, says M. Gloger, has therefore provided for the pre- 

 servation of the species whose nest is exposed to the view, by 

 giving their eggs a colour incapable of revealing their presence 

 at a distance, while she has been able, without inconvenience, to 

 give the most lively colours in those cases where the eggs are 

 concealed from sight. It would have been more correct to say, 

 that a certain number of birds can deposite their eggs in places 

 accessible to the view, because the colour which their eggs have 

 renders them liable to be confounded with surrounding objects ; 

 while other birds have been obliged to conceal their eggs be- 

 cause the brightness of their colours would attract their enemies. 

 But in whatever way it may be accounted for, the fact exists. 



