394 MR. A. NEWTON ON RARE BIRDs' EGGS. [DcC. lU, 



to let the future decide the matter, and am even prepared to be 

 considered, with my brother egg-collectors, for the present as nothing 

 more than one of a number of harmless enthusiasts. But scientific 

 naturalists, for whom I yield to none in respect, must remember 

 that, as M. Des Murs in his late able work has well remarked, our 

 special branch of study is quite in its infancy. We scarcely know 

 the oological characters of a tithe of the 7000 or 8000 species of 

 birds which are supposed to exist ; and of these our knowledge ex- 

 tends to little more than two of the six physical regions of the earth. 

 Besides, it is only recently that our inquiries have been pursued 

 with that attention to facts which the nature of the subject pre- 

 eminently requires. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at if many of 

 the conclusions which, notwithstanding our very limited acquaintance 

 with the study, some of us have attempted to form, are found on 

 further research to be ill-founded. But there is, I hope, no need 

 for me to protract these apologetic remarks ; I have only to add 

 that, in exhibiting to the Society a few rare or new eggs which it has 

 been my good fortune, chiefly through the kindness of several friends, 

 recently to procure, I am not actuated by any ostentatious motive, 

 but rather by a reliance on the truth of the old adage that " seeing 

 is believing." Knowing, as I do, that the most scrupulous exactness 

 in recording the dimensions and in describing the colours of eggs 

 fails to give auy accurate notion of the originals, I shall rather dwell, 

 in what I have to say, on the history of the different specimens than 

 on their appearance, mentioning also briefly what is known by 

 me of the nesting of the species to which they belong. 



Snowy Owl. 



Nyctea nivea, Bonaparte. 



I must confess to having done my friends Mr. Hewitson and Mr. 

 Wilmot the injustice of beheving that they had, without due cause, 

 ascribed an egg possessed by the last named gentleman to this species. 

 Still so little has been published in England respecting the Snowy 

 Owl's manner of nidification, that I hold myself excused for here 

 presenting to the Society what information I have been able to col- 

 lect on the subject, in illustration of the specimens I exhibit. 



Towards the latter half of the last century Mr. Hutchins, in his 

 manuscript observations on the habits of birds in the Hudson's Bay 

 territory, says of his "Spotted Owl" or "Wapacuthu," that it 

 "makes a nest in the moss on the dry ground," and "lays from five 

 to ten eggs in May." Sir John Richardson, from whom I quote 

 this statement, seems uncertain as to the species to which Hutchins's 

 remarks refer ('Fauna Bor.-Amer.' ii. p. 86, note), but I think 

 there cannot be much doubt that it was the Snowy Owl. Sir John 

 further states {op. cit. p. 89), as the result of his own inquiries, that 

 this bird "makes its nest on the ground, and lays three or four white 

 eggs." So also Mr. Hearne confirms the truth of Hutchins's obser- 

 tion (' Journey,' p. 402) — a statement which Mr. Cassia (' B. Calif.' 

 p. 194) is inclined to doubt. 



