no THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE 



is obvious that such ornamentation would serve 

 no good purpose, when one remembers that the 

 eggs are placed in dark corners out of sight, and, 

 very often, out of reach. 



To the number of birds thus distinguished are 

 to be added several which have not, so far, come 

 under review, because their eggs, although white 

 and whitish, are not round in shape. In this 

 respect, there may be mentioned the Sand Martin, 

 who places her small pear-shaped egg in a cosy 

 nest of feathers at the extremity of a tunnel in a 

 sandpit; the Swift, who delights in taking posses- 

 sion of the roof of a house; the Puffin, who places 

 her one solitary tgg at the end of a burrow in 

 peaty soil; and the Dipper, whose pure white 

 pyriform eggs are snugly hidden in a well-arched- 

 in nest near a burn or stream. 



Birds which make little attempt at nest-building, 

 and which place their treasures upon the ground, 

 such as the Lapwing, Curlew, Ringed Plover, 

 Sandpiper, Dunlin, Skylark, Snipe, Woodcock, 

 and Common Partridge, are specially interesting, 

 because of the distinct shape of the egg, the same 

 tapering almost to a point. And there is reason 

 for this, if we stop to inquire, for it will be seen 

 that if eggs shaped in this manner are placed 

 together, with the small ends pointing towards each 

 other, the eggs take up far less room than they 

 would do if deposited without method, and if they 



