Letters, Announcements, S^c. 247 



ceus capensis, P. oryx, and Estrelda asfrild; and I have little 

 lb doubt others have similar small representatives. 

 H 412. Fringillaria impetuani. Common at Nels Poort. 



Eggs white, spotted in a ring with obscure ill-defined cloudy 

 ■/ blotches and pinpoint-dots of purplish brown. Axis 7'" ; diam. 



\ 415. Fringillaria tahapisi. Found at Colesberg by Mr. 

 Ortlepp. 



447. CoLius erythropus. Does not breed in holes, but 

 makes a cup-shaped nest, as do the other two South-African 

 species. My son has sent in the eggs of C. striatus in some 

 plenty. Many of them are curiously streaked with a dull golden 

 yellow. The ground-colour of all is a dirty chalky-white, rough 

 to the touch. 



540. EuPODOTis cristata. Last (but certainly not least) I 

 have the pleasure to announce the acquisition to the Souths 

 African Museum stores (wherein are deposited all the specimens 

 above described) of a magnificent egg of this noble Bustard. This 

 was received from Mr. Jackson. It is of a pale fawn-coloured 

 ground (with a tinge of green about it), unevenly spotted and 

 blotched with various-sized and -shaped brown and faint purple 

 markings, chiefly at the obtuse end. Axis 3" 4'" ; diam. 2" 5'". 



My friend Mrs. Barber takes exception to the statement (B. 

 S. Afr. p. 252) that the eggs of parasitic birds usually resemble 

 those of the foster parent. She writes that " the eggs of all the 

 Cuckoos that I have met with in this country are white, and 

 moreover they are nearly always larger than the eggs of the 

 bird in whose nest they are deposited. With regard to distin- 

 guishing eggs, birds of all kinds are exceedingly short-sighted. 

 We used to amuse ourselves by changing the eggs in all the 

 birds' nests that we knew of. The owners seldom left them, but 

 took to the strange eggs; and unless their habits were remark- 

 ably different, they would blindly rear each other's young, just 

 as they do the young Cuckoos. It is not necessary, therefore, 

 for nature to make this provision. T\ y second son once filled a 

 Cape Canary's nest with so many eggs, that when the young were 

 hatched, they were more than the poor birds could manage to 

 provide for; and, having repented of his mischief, he was 



N. S. — VOL. IV. s 



