COLOURS OF EGGS. 173 



which can be compared to the rose, or tulip, or 

 other flowers of even gaudier hues than those 

 possessed by these. The colours of eggs are more 

 subdued, less staring, and altogether of feebler 

 lustre than those of flowers. This arises, in some 

 degree, from the material on which they are im- 

 pressed, the calcareous coating being less adapted 

 to exhibit colouring than the waxen structure of 

 the flower, every cell of which is full of juice re- 

 flecting light through the painted cell walls. But 

 the colours of many eggs are extremely beautiful 

 nevertheless, and, for softness of tint, may endure 

 comparison with any human production ; the glis- 

 tening varnish-like coating, beneath which the 

 colouring matter is deposited, adds greatly to their 

 beauty ; in some instances this glistening coat is 

 so beautiful, as to give the eggs a burnished or 

 even metallic appearance. 



The egg of the golden eagle is one of some 

 beauty and variety of colouring; irregular blotches 

 of chocolate, of pale pink, and of yellow, variegate 

 its surface. Many eggs of the falcon family are 

 of a rich brown colour ; that of the buzzard some- 

 what resembles those brown shells which form the 

 constant ornaments of the country mantel-piece, 



