396 MR. A. NEWTON ON RARE BIRDS* EGGS. [DcC. 10, 



OTth any amount of probability can be assigned to this species. It 

 was sent to me about a year ago by Mr. Edgar Layard of the South 

 African Museum, Cape Town, who tells me that, to the best of his 

 belief, it is rightly assigned. However, he did not take it himself, 

 though he says that the finder knows the birds of the colony toler- 

 ably well. It certainly appears to be the egg of an Ixodine or Pyc- 

 uonotiue bird ; but I believe there are found at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, besides Pycnonotus aurigaster, three other allied species, 

 namely, P. capensis, Andropadus importunus, and Phyllostrephus 

 capensis, the former of which, at least, would seem to breed in the 

 country (Victorin, Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl. Bd. ii. no. 10. p. 34). 

 I can hardly allude to this species without expressing my entire 

 dissent from the opinion of those naturalists who, on the strength of 

 the occurrence of an example of it in the county Waterford, would 

 recognize it as a " British bird." I do not, however, question the fact 

 of the occurrence as reported ; nor do I doubt that the species was 

 rightly determined, though for myself I have not seen the specimen. 



Nutcracker. 



Nuci/raffa caryocatactes, Leach. 



A genuine specimen of this bird's egg — that is, one which has 

 been properly identified and authenticated — has for some time been 

 the desideratissimumot mj collection. Of the examples I now exhibit, 

 that which I am most inclined to believe in is one sent to England 

 in 1860 by Mr. H. W. Wheelwright, who writing from Gardsjo in 

 Wermeland, under the signature of " An Old Bushman " ('Field,' 

 No. 409, Oct. 27th, 1860), says, "The nest of the Nutcracker I 

 never took myself ; but it Ijreeds in Sweden, and this year 1 received 

 two sets of eggs not far from here from a correspondent upon whom 

 I can rely. In both cases the eggs were four ; and, though I saw 

 neither nest [in situll, it was described as being in a small fir, and 

 not unlike the nest of a Jay." Four of the eggs, the contents of 

 one nest, are now in the collection of Mr. John Hancock, where I 

 have seen them, and in general appearance they closely resemble the 

 example now shown. Of the remaining three, from the other nest, 

 one was unfortunately broken, while the other two, which, I am in- 

 formed, agree with the present in colouring, are also in the posses- 

 sion of English collectors. It will be seen, from the specimen which 

 is the subject' of these remarks, that they were in no way like 

 eggs of the Jay {Garulus glandarhts, Leach). Indeed, they have 

 more the appearance of being dwarfed eggs of the Magpie (Pica 

 caudata, Flem.) ; but the description of the nests furnished to Mr. 

 Wheelwright precludes us from so considering them ; and the fact 

 of the entire contents of two nests being so exactly similar renders it 

 somewhat improbable that they should be abnormal varieties laid by 

 that or any other bird. 



Of the remaining examples now exhibited, two were sent me by 

 Dr. Eduard Baldamus. One of these was received by him from the 

 South Carpathian Mountains, through Herr Bielz. In colour, as Dr. 

 Baldamus has stated ('Naumanuia,' I. i. p. 71), it is not unlike a 



