13 [Vol. xxxvi. 



judgment must be made. Fiirbringer, in his monumental 

 work, selects some forty-eight taxonomic characters for 

 consideration, and shows that what seem at first to be 

 structural characters of the greatest importance, such as the 

 structure of the bill and feet, often fail to elucidate the true 

 affinities of birds. 



But what attempt has been made in the past to put the 

 case for Oology before the public ? I believe that Prof. 

 Newton, and perhaps I may add Dr. Hartert, began their 

 careers with a high conception of the value of oological 

 characters, but later in life came to modify their views. The 

 literature of the subject is scanty, partly because the subject 

 presupposes an acquaintance with the eggs of the whole 

 bird-world, and not of the British Isles or even Europe only, 

 while few men have the opportunity to study so vast a 

 subject, and those who have the chance, neglect it. 



Des Murs, in the "^ Premiere Partie " of his ' Traite general 

 d^Oologie ornithologique ' (pp. 1-37), gives an excellent 

 slcetch of the chief publications on the subject from the days 

 of Marsigli and Zinnani to 1860, and discusses the various 

 theories propounded in them, which are for the greater part 

 too crude to detain us. It is enough to mention that 

 Zinnani suggests their merits as articles of food as a basis. 

 for classification ; Giinther arranges them according to size, 

 and Buff'on, in support of his theory that the colours of eggs 

 vary according to the plumage of the parent, quotes the 

 eggs of the Woodpeckers as being similarly marked and 

 spotted with red ! Des Murs's own work is, however, a 

 serious contribution to science. Somewhat diffuse, and as 

 regards material in many cases altogether lacking or entirely 

 in error, yet there is much of interest and value. It is 

 somewhat startling to find the writer seriously discussing 

 the possibility of the eggs of the Great Northern Diver 

 being hatched in hollows under the parents' wings, as 

 suggested by Pontoppidan, and his suggestion that the eggs 

 of the Californian Vulture may really belong to some tree- 

 nesting species of Pelican is amusing ; but, after making ail 

 allowances for defective material, we find that his general 

 conclusions are, at any rate, partly sound. 



