278 Roperts, Nesting Habits of Franklin's Gull. fuly 
sets of eggs in all stages of incubation, the result probably of 
second nest-building. 
The number of eggs in a nest varies from two to four, the most 
common clutch being three. They vary endlessly in both color 
and markings, and there is also a great diversity in shape. The 
ground color of the eggs varies from an unusual extreme of a very 
light grayish blue through many shades of umber, olive browns, 
and grayish browns to the other equally uncommon extreme of a 
very dark brown, approaching almost a chocolate in depth of 
coloration. Throughout there is a prevailing olive tint, giving a 
greenish cast, no matter what the body color. . The eggs are 
marked with irregular blotches and pencillings of many shades of 
cinnamon brown and fuscous, the more deeply lying pigment 
producing spots of lilac or olive hue. In some eggs the markings 
vary little in size, and are evenly scattered over the entire surface ; 
but usually they vary from fine dots to large blotches exceeding 
even a half inch in length, and are thickest at the large end, where 
they form a wreath, the markings becoming occasionally almost 
confluent. The irregular pencillings and scratches are confined 
for the most part to certain sets, and on some eggs nearly all of 
the markings are of this hieroglyphic character, giving to such the 
aspect of huge blackbird’s eggs. 
All the eggs of any one set have about the same around color 
and the same general pattern in the markings, and so endless are 
the styles of coloration that no two sets of a large series are 
exactly alike. Yet so distinctive are the details of color and 
form of each set that should all the eggs of a considerable series 
become thoroughly intermingled it would not be a difficult matter 
to pick out accurately the different sets. 
A rather blunt pyriform is the most common outline, but the 
extreme reaches on the one hand to an almost perfect ellipse, and 
on the other to a broad and rather pointed pear shape. The 
average measurements of a series of 138 eggs are 2.07 inches in 
length by 1.45 inches in breadth. The longest egg measures 2.29 
inches, and the smallest 1.90, 
variation of .39 of an inch. 
The widest egg is 1.54 inches, and the narrowest 1.35, — a varia- 
tion of .19 of an inch. The eggs of a set are generally of about 
the same dimension, and outline. 
