19 [Vol. xxxvi. 



Colymbi are separated. Mr. Ridgway unites them in a 

 single order with two families. I think that if there is any 

 significance in Oology they should be separated ; not merely 

 because their eggs differ, but because, while the Grebes lay 

 four to six chalky-white eggs, the Divers lay only two dark 

 brown, hard and smooth-shelled eggs with black markings. 

 It is true that among the Steganopodes we find the Gannets 

 laying one or two and the Cormorants and Shags three to five, 

 but the eggs are all of the same character, and only differ in 

 number. 



I admit there are cases which present difficulty : some of 

 the Passeres lay white eggs, e. g. the Muntifrmgilla genus 

 and the Cinclidse ; but perhaps this may be accounted for by 

 the gradual atrophy of the colour-producing ducts through 

 Natural Selection, owing to their nesting in covered sites,, 

 and perhaps the same may be the case with Podoces humilis. 

 But when we find Dramas, a Limicoline bird, laying a single 

 large, white, dull-shelled egg, oval in shape, at the end of a 

 burrow, I confess that all explanations seem inadequate. 

 Professor Newton always maintained that definite proof of 

 identification was lacking, and certainly we should like to 

 know much more about such an extraordinarily aberrant form. 

 We do not know enough about Dramas to define its 

 position with exactitude, and I should like some of our 

 anatomists at home and some of our field-workers abroad to 

 concentrate their efforts on this species *. These are not the 

 only problems presented by the study of Oology, but merely 

 a selection, and it must be remembered that even in cases 

 where the range of colour-variation is extreme, there are 

 other characteristics which are unaltered. The shape, texture, 

 and clutch of one egg only, are practically constant in the case 

 of the Guillemot, although the colour and markings differ 

 to an extraordinary degree. What we want to foster is 

 a broader outlook among all branches of ornithologists : 

 the recognition of the value of every branch of ornitho- 

 logical research, and the abandonment of the attitude that 



* Dr. P. R. Lowe informs me that lie Las been investigating the 

 osteology and life-history of this species, and hopes shortly to publish 

 the results in a paper in the ' Ibis.' — F. C. R. J. 



