Vol. xl. | 70 
present a single similar character. He had never yet seen 
a well-authenticated clutch of Hobbies’ eggs which could 
possibly be confused with those of the Kestrel, and in ninety- 
nine cases out of a hundred they could easily be picked out 
by an experienced oologist, and he would consider the time 
he had spent on the study of oology wasted if he could not 
do so. He considered that the fundamental aim of scientific 
oology should be the identification of eggs at sight, and 
could not see the use of weights and measurements if they 
could not be relied upon to assist in identification. The 
grain of the shel] alone was sufficient in some cases for 
identification, and especially so with eggs of the Hobby. 
He pointed out that Newton had called special attention to 
the grain of the egg-shell and to the investigations carried 
out by Drs. Landois, and Rudolph Blasius, and mentions 
that even specific differences are apparent in the eggs of 
certain Swans and Geese. The speaker had made the 
interesting discovery that eggs of the Pink-footed Goose 
hada very marked specific difference in grain. 
Mr. Bunyard went on to say that, providing a sufficiently 
large series of well-authenticated specimens of a species 
were available to work upon, there should be no difficulty in 
fixing the type, and when once this had been established the 
practised eye should be able to fix the parentage. He con- 
sidered it remarkable that some ornithologists could recognise 
the minutest superficial differences in subspecies and yet 
were unable to do so with oological specimens. An objection 
had been raised because the Irish clutch which he believed 
to belong to the Hobby consisted of four, and with reference 
to Mr. Hale’s chailenge he had written to his friend Mr. 
John Palmer of Ludlow, who had had unique experience 
with this species and had probably seen more clutches of its 
eggs in situ than anyone else. Mr. Palmer replied to the 
effect that out of thirty clutches of Hobbies’ eggs taken by 
himself four had consisted of four, these being in his opinion 
the product of the same bird. Amongst the series exhibited 
was a clutch of four taken in Surrey on July 4th, 1904, 
the bird having been shot at the nest. There was also a 
