]46 The Zoologist — March, 1866. 



surface, lashing it up with the tips of his wings at every stroke, and then fall heavily 

 into it, ploughing up the spray for several feet. Is not ihis rather unusual, as the bird 

 was undisturbed at the time? We also saw one or two redtliroated divers. Numbers 

 of cormorants frequented the lake, flying in and out from the sea, but would not ap- 

 proach near enough for a shot. Flocks of curlews and lapwings were nesting on the 

 shores. Of the gull tribe we saw blackheaded, kitiiwake, herring and great black- 

 backed gulls: the latter seemed to be tolerably plentiful at Malahide: we put up 

 three or four at once, which seemed angry at being disturbed, for they soared over the 

 boat in their magnificent flight, uttering loud cries, and then sailed away. — fV. Vincent 

 Legge ; 48, Waterloo Road, Dublin, February 5, 1800. 



Varieties of British Birds' Eggs.— In my collection of birds' eggs, I have 

 several eggs which in their markings and variations from the general type are some- 

 what curious. It is curious to observe the different blotches and markings in the 

 colouring, and the eccentric variations in the shape, of many of our common birds' 

 eggs : a few such I give in the following list, which have come under my own eye, or 

 are now in my collection: — 



1. An egg of the blackheaded bunting, on one side of which two large blotches or 

 marks, about one-third of an inch in height, lake the form of the two letters s i with 

 great exactitude. The s is almost perfect. The ground colour of the egg is very light, 

 which shows off the marks to advantage. 



2. Another egg of the same bird, of a light gray colour, and having small freckles 

 of a darker tone at the larger end, and being entirely without any of the darker and 

 characteristic spots. 



3. Yet another egg of the same bird, which is in part a deformity. It is of a light 

 delicate pink colour, which I think is partly owing to the thinness and transparency of 

 the deformed shell. The shell is likewise covered with excrescences and chalky-looking 

 lumps, making it quite rough. The egg feels brittle to the touch, if I may use the 

 expression. 



4. Two eggs of the tree pipit, which I think curious, and which were taken from 

 the same nest, are much longer in shape than the type, are of a dull stone-colour, and 

 have at the larger end a delicate black-pencilled line, very similar to those on the eggs 

 of the sedge warbler. I never saw any such before or since, although perhaps no egg 

 is more subject to variations than those of the tree pipit. 



5. A hedge accentor's egg, which measures less in circumference round the middle 

 than it does at the ends. 



6. A house sparrow's egg, of somewhat the same nature, and another of the colour, 

 size and shape of the meadow pipit's. 



7. Rooks' eggs I have taken of most eccentric sizes, shapes and colours; some long 

 and pointed at both ends, but still having one end larger than the other; others pear- 

 shaped, and yet others almost round. I have seen rooks' eggs almost two inches and 

 a half in length, and one or two, minus the yelk, not larger than a house sparrow's. 



8. A common barn-door fowl hen, the other day, laid an egg of the common size, 

 but marked all over with minute red spots like those on a turkey's egg. Another hen's 

 egg weifjhed three ounces. 



9. Of the eggs of the chaffinch I have some most beautifully and richly marked, 

 and others of a pale blue, without a single mark whatever. 



1 0. I look a uest of eggs of a blackbird (the bird was sitting on the nest) of a pale 



