56 PROF. A. NEWTON ON NEW OR RARE BTRDS' EGGS. [Jail. 17, 



third time the honour of offering to it some remarks on new or 

 rare birds' eggs, which the kindness of several scientific friends 

 has placed it in my power to make. In the present case these friends 

 are (as on a former occasion) the authorities of the Smithsonian 

 Institution (Professors Henry and Baird), Mr. E. L. Layard, and 

 Dr. Cunningham. 



1. Leucosticte griseintjcha. 



This, received from the Smithsonian Institution, is a perfectly 

 white egg, measuring - 97 in. X '67 in. I am not aware that the 

 egg of any species of this genus has been before described. 



2. Theristicus melanopis. (Plate IV. fig. 8.) 



I have already described this specimen in the 'Ibis' (18/0, 

 p. 502), and it is unnecessary for me now to say more about it than 

 that I owe it to Dr. Cunningham. 



•&■ 



3. Calidris arenaria. (Plate IV. fig. 2.) 



Mr. Gould has lately shown (B. Gr. Brit, part xi.) that hitherto 

 nothing has been known with certainty about the breeding of this 

 bird, one of the commonest winter visitants to the temperate regions 

 of both New and Old Worlds. The egg has several times been an- 

 nounced as having been obtained ; but the specimens so recorded 

 differ materially from that which I now exhibit, as that also does 

 from those figured by Thienemann (Fortpfianz. gesammt. Vog. 

 t. lxii. fig. 2) and Biideker (Eier europ. Vbg. t. lxxi. fig. 5), so that 

 I can hardly doubt that the egg now on the table is the first genuine 

 Sanderling's which has been seen in Europe. 



It was sent to me by the Smithsonian Institution ; and the ticket 

 accompanying it shows that it was procured by Mr. M'Farlane on the 

 Barren Grounds of America, near the Anderson River ; and the fact 

 that tbe parent bird ( £ ) was shot leaves no room for doubt as to 

 its authenticity and proper identification. It measures 1*43 in. x 

 •98 in. The nest was said to have been of hay and decayed leaves. 



4. Macrorhamfhus griseus. 



This egg, not hitherto described, is also from the Smithsonian 

 Institution. It resembles in general marking and colour that of a 

 Redshank {Tot anus calidris) ; but the specimen is unfortunately so 

 much broken that I cannot give its dimensions, or propose that it 

 should be figured in the Society's ' Proceedings.' 



5. Numenius borealis. (Plate IV. fig. 1.) 



Another of the generous gifts of the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 interesting as the egg of a scarce straggler to the Old World. It 

 shows in its appearance a connexion between the genera Numenius 

 and Limosa (L. lapponica), and measures 2-04 in. x 1*43 in. It 

 was obtained by Mr. M'Farlane from an Esquimaux on the Arctic 

 coast of America, east of the Anderson River. 



