89 [Vol. xli. 



There are also cirlus-eggs which approach pretty closely to 

 the citrinella type, but these are naturally not so popular 

 with collectors. So with Pyrrliula eggs : one type is 

 practically indistinguishable from that of Chloris] while the 

 rare erythristic variety with brown markings on a white 

 ground resembles the normal type o£ some of the Indian 

 forms exhibited by Mr. E. C. S. Baker. The blue type of 

 Spotted Flycatcher's egg is not unlike the normal type of the 

 Pied Flycatcher, while the spotless eggs of our Song-Thrush 

 recall those of some American species. Among some eggs 

 from Mesopotamia are eggs of a Reed-Warbler which have 

 all the character of a boldly-marked Marsh-Warbler's egg. 



In some groups the eggs are much alike. For instance, 

 the eggs of the Falcons stand oologically close to one another 

 in colouring, and some overlapping is natural. While there 

 are many eggs of each species which can be readily picked 

 out and correctly identified, there remain a few which leave 

 the most expert at fault. As a rule, ©ggs of .the Lesser 

 Kestrel can be distinguished with certainty from those of 

 the Common Kestrel, yet those exhibited to-night, although 

 possessing the appearance of Lesser Kestrels, in reality belong 

 to the larger species. 



But a far more remarkable case occurs among the Sand- 

 Plovers. Here we have, in the case of the Kestrel, Ringed 

 and Lesser Ringed, three very different types of egg, and as 

 a rule each species adheres closely to its type. But to my 

 great astonishment, among a large series of eggs of Kentish 

 Plover found in the Balearic Isles by Mr. P. W. Munn, were 

 no fewer than 11 eggs from several pairs of birds, which 

 agree exactly with eggs of the Lesser Ringed Plover. 

 Mr. Munn took the greatest pains to identify these eggs, and 

 it is interesting to find that no ornithologist since Homeyer's 

 day has recorded the latter species from these islands, though 

 many have visited the spot where these eggs were taken. 



One of the stock accusations against Oology is that the 

 study of eggs is futile, as one cannot invariably tell from 

 the egg by what species of bird it was laid. This is, of course, 

 true in some cases, but a broader view will show that this 



