872 Mr. C. Ingriun on the [Ibis, 



consiilerably below tlic longitudinal centre of the egg, and, 

 therefore, relatively far removed from the air-space in the 

 cap. Ill most biriis — at any rate, in those laying eggs of a 

 true ovate form — the position of the curled-up head causes 

 tiie l)ill to Ije well above the longitudinal centre, aiul the 

 chick usually chips the shell somewhere about the egg's 

 broadest diameter (fig. 14). 



The young Hawfinch {('occothraii.stes coccotliraustes) also 

 ap[)ears to have peculiar nostrils. In a newly-fledged speci- 

 men that I examined in 1917 I noticed that there were two 



Text- figure 15. 



Immature Ilawfiuch (Coccot/iraustes c. coccothravstes), to show 

 the peculiar nasal ridges. 



ridge-like bosses on the bill, running inwards and slightly 

 backwards frou) the nasal apertures (fig. 15). In tliis 

 connection it would be very instructive to examine an embryo 

 o£ this Finch, but unfoitunately up to the present I have 

 not had the opportunity of doing so ^. 



In the young of raptorial birds the nestlings are hatched 

 more or less evenly co\ere(l with down, composed apparently 

 of both pre-penn?e and [)re-plnmul8e. This downy covering, 

 as is well known, is usually of a uniform colour (genci'ally 

 white or butfish-white), but in a few members of this order 

 a distinct pattern mny be observed, and this is especially 

 remarkable in the Os[)rey (^f'audlou kaliaetus). In a newly- 

 hatched specimen of this bird, the short dense growth of 

 down is saudy buff on the head with a light median stripe 

 running down the nape, and a dark patch in front and 



* Eulargemeuts of tlie external nostrils occur also io the uestliugs of 

 some of the Parrots {cf. I'ycraft, Avicult. Mag. v. 1907, p. -210). 



