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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THIRD SERIES 



Vol. VII.] APKIL, 1883. [No. 76. 



ON THE TIME OF DAY AT WHICH BIRDS LAY 



THEIR EGGS. 

 By Robert Miller Christy. 



In the year 1876 there was a brief discussion in ' The 

 Zoologist ' on the above subject. It was started by Mr. J. Cor- 

 deaux, who said (p. 4983) he had observed that after a Carrion 

 Crow's first egg is laid the hen bird may always be found on 

 the nest between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m. He had searched 

 ornithological works for the purpose of learning at what hour 

 out of the twenty-four birds usually deposit their eggs, but the 

 only reference to the subject he had been able to find was a note 

 by the late Dr. Saxby, who said (Zool. 1862, p. 8166) :— " Careful 

 observation on twenty different species of our Insessorial birds 

 has enabled me to ascertain the fact that, as a general rule, they 

 lay their eggs between the hours of 7 and 12 p.m." 



Mr. F. Boyes, of Beverley, soon after (Zool. 1876, p. 5115) 

 wrote that he thought 8 a.m. was nearer the time, and he 

 suspected that by accident Dr. Saxby had written " p.m." instead 

 of " a.m." A few pages later (p. 5161) Mr. S. H. Saxby, the 

 brother of Dr. Saxby, says he has no doubt this surmise is 

 correct, but he cannot discover the passage in the original MS. 

 He had been told by a very accurate observer that among poultry 

 and caged birds each successive egg is, as a rule, laid later in 

 the morning than the previous one. Mr. C. M. Prior (Zool. 1877, 

 p. 53) says that he believes the usual laying-time to be still 

 earlier in the morning, although not in the middle of the 



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