the Coloration of Eggs. 585 



porridge, I was busy again^ and after the first few accep- 

 tances was only able to return at considerable intervals. 



The rat, ravenous in manner, at once ate an egg of 

 Sitagra ocularia ; licked out a portion of a slightly hard-set 

 Turtle-Dove's egg [Turtur damarensis) that, for convenience 

 of insertion in the cage, I had blown into an Amblyospiza shell 

 painted with black patches of water-colour for the sake of 

 distinctiveness; refused to touch some water (offered to guard 

 against the possible complication of thirst — as his supply of 

 water was finished), and, so long as I remained present, re- 

 fused yesterday^s egg of M. croceus ; but he at once ate 

 another Sitagra egg. I left for some time, and on my return 

 found the Macronyx e^^ eaten and lying to one side, but by 

 no means licked out like the Sitagra^s. The rat then licked 

 out another very small portion of the T. damarensis egg, 

 and refused persistently to attack an egg of Chalcopelia afra. 

 I left for at least twenty minutes, and on my return found 

 it still uneaten ; but a further small portion of the Turtur, 

 now inserted, was licked out of a shell coloured as usual. 

 I once more left for a very considerable time, and returned 

 this time to find the rat just lying down, after eating the 

 Chalcopelia egg. This, too, was by no means cleanly licked 

 out. Another small portion of Turtle-Dove's eg^ was then 

 licked out, but the rat after this refused all eggs (including 

 C. ardens, S. ocularia, and blue H. jamesoni\ burying his 

 head in a corner whenever I brought one up to him. 



This was nearly two hours after the commencement of 

 the experiment, such had been the interruptions. I left in 

 the cage three Coliuspasser eggs (one fresh, one hard-set, one 

 medium), the blue Hyphantornis (fairly hard-set), and the 

 Sitagra ocularia egg (fresh). Nearly half an hour later 

 (12.25 P.M.) a quarter of the latter had been eaten, and it 

 was now lying abandoned and the rest remained quite un- 

 eaten, though the rat showed great eagerness for a small 

 scrap of brown bread, which he ate. At about 2 p.m. all 

 were still uneaten and I added a fresh Amblyospiza egg. At 

 3.30 P.M. only this had been eaten, and the rat continued to 

 refuse the others. He accepted readily and commenced to 



