Birds' Eggs 



arrayed parrots can hardly utter a note which could be 

 called musical, except through their extraordinary powers 

 of mimicry. It is also noticeable that brilliantly coloured 

 birds usually nest in concealed positions, for their own 

 better protection during the days of incubation. King- 

 fishers, parrots and woodpeckers bear out our statement. 



It is rare to meet with a rule without exceptions, and 

 there are exceptions to the rule that white eggs are laid 

 in covered nests. Most ducks lay nearly white eggs in 

 open nests ; partridges and pheasants lay eggs of such 

 a colour that they are easily distinguished from their 

 surroundings, and their nests are exposed to the prying 

 eyes of beast and man. Herons, cormorants and storks 

 all lay light-coloured eggs in open nests also, and the 

 short-eared owl deposits her white eggs upon the ground. 



Why should there be these exceptions, and how is it 

 that the conspicuous eggs do not all come to an unfortun- 

 ate end ? The short-eared owl, for instance, is remarkably 

 well protected by reason of the close resemblance of its 

 plumage to the vegetation of the places in which it nests ; 

 moreover, the bird is an exceedingly close sitter, so that 

 the mother herself protects her conspicuous eggs, and 

 danger is thus avoided time and again. Herons, cormor- 

 ants and the like are gregarious and nest in company, a 

 fact which renders their eggs less likely to come to harm. 

 Ducks, pheasants and partridges, like the grebes we have 

 already mentioned, laying conspicuous eggs in fully 

 exposed nests, all take the precaution of covering their 

 eggs with vegetation harmonising with their surroundings 

 before they leave their nests. It has been said that they 

 do so in order to keep their eggs warm, but a study of 

 the habits of the birds will show that they cover them 

 before they have started sitting, before, therefore, the 

 necessity for warmth has commenced. 



Of the spotted eggs, we find that those with a greenish 

 ground colour are usually laid by birds which nest in the 

 early spring, amid green trees and shrubs. Thrushes, black- 



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