74 Wild Life in Wales 



some cabinet specimens, though in others, almost equally 

 old, their removal was not a very difficult matter. 



During an equally long period, I have, from time to time, 

 seen spotted eggs in nests of the Redstart and the Hedge 

 Sparrow ; once or twice in those of the Water Ouzel ; and 

 once had a similarly marked egg of the Heron. It is not 

 unlikely that there may be a tendency for such variations 

 from type to occur more frequently in some seasons than in 

 others ; but in some districts well known to the writer 

 spotted Redstarts' and Martins' eggs are so prevalent as 

 almost to make plain eggs the exception, and to suggest 

 that races of birds that habitually lay spotted eggs have 

 become established. In the case of Hedge Sparrows, though 

 spots have often enough been found, no such marked 

 sequence happens to have been noticed. The spots are 

 generally confined to the larger end of the egg, agreeing, in 

 fact, with the arrangement common in normally spotted 

 eggs ; and I have had specimens of Redstarts, Martins 

 (both House and Sand), and once of a Pied Flycatcher, in 

 which the spots were in the form of distinct zones : in one 

 Redstart's egg the zone encircled the smaller end, and was 

 well defined. Frequently the marks are mere dots, but in 

 most of the species above mentioned I have occasionally 

 seen them approximating in size those on the ordinary eggs 

 of a Linnet. I have sometimes thought, however, that any 

 increase in the size of the mark was at the expense of its 

 depth of colour, as though the quantity of pigment had 

 been limited. The spots on Dippers' eggs have always been 

 small and dark in colour ; those on the Heron's were com- 

 paratively large and rather irregular in outline. It should 

 be added that I did not personally take the latter egg, 

 though I had no reason to doubt its authenticity. 



The occurrence of such spotted eggs may already have 

 been recognised, for all I know to the contrary ; but as I 

 have seen no reference made to them in any of the standard 

 works on ornithology, it has been thought expedient to 

 devote some space to details of their description here. 

 Because the spots are all more or less of a pink shade, and 

 generally removable by the application of a damp cloth, it 



