706 The Zoologist— April, 1867. 



nest during the old year (1866), and that four young ones were hatched upon the 18th 

 of January following. They are now doing well, and the female hatched another 

 brood of three on the 24lh of February. Surely the first of these broods was very early, 

 even for birds in confinement. — A. Clark-Kennedy. 



Varieties of Chaffinch's and other British Bird's Eggs. — I have the following 

 varieties in my collection of eggs : a short note on each may prove of interest to the 

 readers of the ' Zoologist : ' — 



Chaffinch. — In the month of May, 1862, while staying at Frittenden, in Kent, 

 I found a chaffinch's nest in a laurel, with three eggs, two of which were of the usual 

 colour, one with very few spots on it, and a fourth had no spots at all or lines of any 

 sort whatever, but was of a deep rich blue, not unlike a hedgesparrow's egg : the colour 

 has greatly faded withiu the last two years. 



Thrush. — I have a pure blue thrush's egg, and several with hardly any spots: 

 neither of these are uncommon. 



Blackbird. — I have a blue egg of the blackbird, with rather a tendency to reddish 

 brown at the larger end, and several very deep brown ones. 



Robin. — In the summer of 1862 or 1863 I found a nest of the robin on a mossy 

 bank by the side of a public road near Berkhampstead, Herts: in it were four eggs, all 

 quite white, and of a most lovely pink hue before being blown. Is a white egg of the 

 robin common or not? 



Guillemot. — I have several curiously marked specimens of the guillemot's egg: 

 some are very lightly marked with brown, while I have olheis marked as if with ink. 



Wood Pigeon. — I have an egg quite round of this bird. 



Yellow Bunting. — I have several eggs with various letters marked upon them — on 

 some very plainly. 



Goldencresled Wren. — I have an egg quite round of this bird, and several very 

 elongated. The eggs of this species seem to vary considerably. 



Redbachd Shrike. — An egg with lilac markings, one with brown spots, and another 

 has deep red marks. 



Haivfinch. — I got the eggs of the hawfinch in the summer of 1863 near Berk- 

 hampstead, Heits. — Id. ; February 18, 1867. 



Curious Fact connected with the Brambling. — Yesterday evening, at a little past 

 eight o'clock, a bird flew into a room in this bouse (in Eton), through the open window : 

 I soon saw that it was a brambling. It is not a common bird here, and I believe not 

 very numerous anywhere; but the curious fact is its flying by night straight into a 

 house. I should be inclined to think it had escaped from some cage, as it made no 

 effort to escape. It was placed in a cage, and up to this time is thriving: the bird 

 does not belong to me. — Id. ; March 11, 1867. 



Magpie with a Yellow Beak.— On the 23rd of Febrnary Mr. J. G. K. Young and 

 myself drove down to the coast to see if any birds could be procured. On the way 

 down a magpie rose out of some blae-berry bushes about twenty yards from us, and 

 alighted on a tree some distance off. " By Jove! look at his yellow hill!" I said, as 

 he flew off; " I never saw that before." Mr. Young also saw it quite distinctly. I was 

 at first inclined to believe that it was something which it was carrying in its beak, but 

 the yellow was so distinct, and had so formed itself into the exact shape of the bill that 

 I feel almost certain that it really was a yellow bill, and Mr. Young was perfectly 

 positive that it was. I tried to stalk the bird, and got within sixty yards of it, but could 



