the Culoratiun of Eggs. 599 



addled o£ two Great Tit's eggs, but practically none of it 

 was eaten, so that it can hardly count for much; and the 

 rest of the experiment showed clearly that the mere fact of 

 being stale — even highly so — did not act as a deterrent to 

 this animal. 



Expt. 20. — In the early afternoon the mongoose smelt 

 and refused duck meat, a duck's egg, a nearly fresh Eider's, 

 a Wren's, Grey and Pied Wagtails', Willow-Warblers', Great 

 Tits', etc. ; all but the Eider's were new-laid. He eagerly 

 ate a fresh House-Sparrow's egg, which I removed before he 

 had finished it ; smelt and refused a piece of duck meat and 

 the above eggs again, also a Spotted Flycatcher's, but readily 

 went on with the Sparrow's egg and licked it out well ; 

 again refused duck meat, but returned to his licking of the 

 Sparrow's egg; yet again refused all and the meat, but 

 again returned to the crunching and licking of the Sparrow's 



egg. 



In the evening he showed a marked preference for beef 

 (for which he was, and always is, most eager, though it is 

 not his natural prey) as against duck meat. 



Probable order: (1) Egg of House-Sparrow; beef. (2) 

 Duck meat; eggs of Domestic Duck, Eider, Wren, Pied and 

 Grey Wagtails, Willow-Warbler, Great Tit, Spotted Fly- 

 catcher. 



Expt, 21. July 1, late forenoon. Does the unpleasant 

 Quality reside in the Yolk or the White ? — Ate a little fresh 

 duck's egg, then smelt and refused both fowl's egg and the 

 duck's ; though he certainly, I thought, appeared a little 

 more attracted by the latter. Smelt and refused Great Tit's 

 egg and both fowl's and duck's eggs, but readily ate a 

 Spotted Flycatcher's. Smelt and refused eggs of Great 

 Tit, Wren, fowl, duck, and Pied Wagtail (freshly opened), 

 but ate a Grey Wagtail's (long-opened); smelt and refused 

 again the five species just enumerated, but ate a freshly- 

 opened Grey Wagtail's ; smelt and refused the duck's egg 

 and some of the white poured out into a spoon, but readily 

 ate its yolk from a spoon, licking it out very assiduously ; 

 smelt and refused (licked up a very little before rejecting) 



