\o\. xxix.] 24 



94 mm. ; exposed part of culnien 13 ; expanse of wings 139 ; 

 wing 45 ; tail 25 ; tarsus 12. 



Hub. Kru Coast, Liberia, and Gold Coast. 



Types in the British Museum : (J, No. 431, Nanna Km, 

 20.ihl; ?, No. 157, Sekondi, 27. xii. 10. W. P. Lowe 

 coll. 



Obs. Adult males and females as well as young birds 

 o£ this species were collected by Mr. W. P. Lowe in 

 December, January, and February. 



The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain exhibited a series of eggs of 

 the Black Vulture, VuJtnr monachus, L., taken by him on his 

 visits to Roumania in 1910 and 191 L Other eggs of the 

 same species were shown by Messrs. E. Mackenzie Murray, 

 F. R. Ratclift', and R. H. Read. The series was intendid to 

 show the extreme variation in colour and size in Roumanian 

 eggs, the specimens exhibited ranging from pure white 

 without markings to light brownish-red in ground-colour, 

 boldly blotched and spotted with varying shades of rich red, 

 brown, or sepia, and in some cases with violet shell-markings. 

 In size also there was great variation, one egg attaining the 

 length of 107 mm., while an exceptionally small one only 

 measured 80 x 577 mm. 



Although this bird was only single-brooded, it had been 

 definitely ascertained that when the first egg was taken 

 another was frequently laid four or five weeks later, and 

 that the same type of ^^^^ was produced year after year by 

 the same hen. The male bird had been proved to take part 

 in the incubation. 



On behalf of Mr. E. M. Murray, Mr. Jourdain also 

 exhibited a clutch of eggs of the Northern Nightingale, 

 Lusciuia luscinia, L., taken on the banks of the Danube in 

 1911, and containing a Cuckoo's egg of the type resembling 

 the egg of the Great Reed-Warblcr, Acrocephalus ariuidi- 

 naceus (L.). Records of the rarer foster-parents of the 

 Cuckoo, aiithenticated, as in this case, by the evidence of 

 the finder, were of extreme value, as a large proportion of 

 so-called records were quite unauthenticatcd. 



