Vol. xliii.] 70 



Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker exhibited, on behalf of Sir 

 Percy Cox, G .C.I.E., and Major R. E. Cheesman, a collection 

 of most interesting eggs taken in Mesopotamia and the 

 Persian Gulf. 



Mr. Stuart Baker made the following remarks on this 

 collection : — 



" The eggs are in boxes, and are all named and dated etc. 

 on a slip at the bottom of each box, but there are certain 

 eggs to which I would especially draw your attention. 



" The extraordinary eggs of Anliinga rufus riifits with their 

 bold brown markings will at once attract your notice, as I 

 believe these eggs to be the only known instance of spotted 

 eggs occurring amongst the Darters and Cormorants. Nor 

 are these merely superficial stains, for you will see that they 

 show up well as grey shell-marks on the clutch of three eggs 

 which have been scraped clean of the covering chalky 

 matter always found on the eggs of these and allied birds. 



" The eggs were taken from nests in a colony consisting of 

 these and other birds, and all the eggs of this species were 

 handsomely spotted like the specimens exhibited. 



" In the same box are specimens of the eggs of Plialacro- 

 corax nigrogularis, which are the first ever exhibited in 

 England, even if they are not the first actually taken. They 

 are, of course, quite indistinguishable in appearance from 

 those of other Cormorants. Among the Gulls' and Terns' 

 eggs exhibited there are especially beautiful specimens of 

 Sterna hergii velox, S. hengalensis, S. repressa, S. gelastes, 

 and Hydroprogne caspia — the last, of a type I have never 

 previously seen. 



" The Crab-Plovers are interesting, for none are spotted 

 in the slightest degree, though it has recently been ■ asserted 

 that such spotting is common. 



" You will see that there is an egg shown o^ Phaeton indicus. 

 In this case a specimen of the beautiful White-tailed 2ropic 

 Bird was shot over the egg. We know this Tropic Bird 

 breeds on these islands, but the egg is very small and not 

 what we should expect a Tropic Bird's egg to be in colour, 

 texture, or shape. It is possible, therefore, that the bird 



