LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 419 



*' How to select Eggs for Sittmg. — In a recently published 

 number of the ' Transactions of the Natural History Society 

 of Northumberland and Durham,' Dr. Embleton, in an inter- 

 esting paper on Eggs, makes the following important statement. 

 He says : " My nephew, Mr. H. C. Embleton, informs me that 

 if you hold the round end of an egg to a lighted candle in a 

 dark room you will observe the air-cavity to be sometimes 

 exactly at the end, and sometimes on one side of the end. 

 Those eggs that have the air-cavity at the end are female, and 

 those with the air-cavity on the side are male eggs. I gathered 

 this information from the ' Journal of Horticulture' about two 

 years ago. We always act on this information in selecting our 

 eggs for sitting, and seldom find it to fail.''' 



Eugene W. Gates. 

 Pegu, 

 ISth March 1879. 



[This is exactly what, our henwives always averred at. home, nnd carefully 

 waichincf the results of many sittings, I came to tlie couciusion that the rule 

 did not hold good. — Ed.] 



( Reprint.) 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE ASIAN. 



Dear Sir, — At least six species of true Geese visit different 

 parts of India during the cold season. 



These are — 



1. The Grey Lag. 



2. The White-fronted Goose. 



3. The Dwarf Goose. 



4. The Bean Goose. 



5. The Pink-footed Goose. 



6. The Barred-headed Goose. 



Of course the "iVwMto," though often called tha Black-back- 

 ed Goose, is not included in these, it not being a Goose at all, 

 but a true Tree Duck, which it is best to follow Southern 

 Indian sportsmen, in designating "The Comb Duck," the other 

 name unfortunately adopted by Jerdon being calculated to 

 convey an erroneous idea of the real affinities of the species. 



To return. Of these six species of true Geese, several are 

 undoubtedly very rare. I myself have never shot either the 

 Dwarf or the Bean Goose. Of the former I have specimens 

 procured by Dr. Bonavia near Lucknow, and by Mr. N. W. 

 Chill near Sultanpur, in the Goorgaon District, some thirty 

 miles south of Delhi. Of the Beau Goose I have never suc- 

 ceeded in securing an Indian-killed specimen, though Mr. 

 Gould had a specimen sent him from somewhere in the Deccan, 



