The Zoologist— June, 1870, 2181 



in all this ; but what I wish now to mention is that this year eleven eggs have been laid 

 — a number I have not seen recorded before. — James Murlon ; Silverdale, Carnforth, 

 May 12, 1870. 



Supposed Occurrence of the American Mottled Owl in Kent. — Lord Clifton says, in 

 the ' Zoologist' for May (S. S. 21.38) that the " general colour" of the owl seen by him 

 was reddish brown. Wilson tells us that Strix nasvia has " the upper part of the head, 

 the back, ears and lesser wing-coverts dark brown, streaked with black." Lord Clifton 

 remarks, "and to crown all, it had two small stumpy tufts — I can hardly call them 

 ears." Whereas Wilson says, " Horns" (as they are usually called) " very prominent, 

 each composed of ten feathers, increasing in length from the front backwards." Lord 

 Clifton observed that " the face was much redder than the breast." But the mottled 

 owl, according to Wilson, has the "face whitish, and both breast and belly white, 

 variegated with black and brown streaks." Your correspondent concludes with the 

 remark, "What else could this be but Strix asio?" Why? To my mind it might be 

 Slrix passerina, of the same size (within half an inch) as Strix naevia, and answering 

 fully as well the description given of the owl seen at Cobham. Though the passerine 

 owl has not the "stumpy tufts" spoken of, its bristle-tipped plumelets are elongated, 

 and it has, according to Temrainck, " les parties iuferieurs d'un blanc roussaire." — 

 Henry Hadfield. 



Late Stay of the Fieldfares. — \Jp to the 6th of this month the fieldfares were still 

 with us. I had constantly watched a flock of about twenty for some years: they 

 assembled daily in some tall trees adjoining this property, but I expect they have now 

 taken their departure, as I have watched for them for the last few days, but they are 

 not in their old haunts. — Edward Sweelapple ,■ Eynsham Paper Works, near Oxford, 

 May 1 ] , 1870. 



Colour of Cuckoos' Eggs. — 1 was only yesterday reading up, in your valuable 

 journal, all the notices on the cuckoo, as well as those in 'Nature' and ' Science 

 Gossip.' There is one point, wV. the persistency in form and colour of the eggs as laid 

 by one particular bird, and I am much inclined to believe, with Mr. Harting, that the 

 female has no power to vary the colour or shape or size of her egg to suit circum- 

 stances. I believe that she exercises discretion in the choice of the nest into which 

 she is about to deposit her egg, and that she selects the situation with reference to the 

 colour of the egg that she is in the habit of laying. I also fully believe that she puts 

 in the egg with her beak, having previously laid it conveniently near. I have a fine 

 series of the eggs of the Egyptian vulture {Vultur percnopterus), varying in colour 

 from while to dark red, and I mention this as an extreme case, yet I believe that each 

 bird in this case lays her eggs nearly of one colour. I am well acquainted with the 

 pair of these birds which yearly inhabit the church-tower at Etawab, N.W. Province 

 India, of which Mr. Hume speaks in his 'Notes on Indian Birds' (Part I. Raptores), 

 and I have taken their eggs: they are more richly coloured than any others that 

 I have ever seen, and they are laid every year the same. At least I can speak certainly 

 for the produce of several. Other nests I have marked as only producing white or 

 very faintly spotted eggs of the same bird. It is true that one often finds veiy 

 different eggs in the same nest; but this is quite the exception, and not the rule. 

 The inquiries of Dr. Baldamus relative to the colour of the eggs all point to the same 

 result, and it is in confirmation of them that I have penned this note, as it appears to 

 me to bear on an important point in the discussion. I only possess five eggs of the 

 cuckoo, and these present three distinct types, w^. that of the nightingale, the wagtail 



