Vol. xxxvi.] 60 



olivaceous on tlie upperside, the patch on the sides of the 

 breast is not so dark, the abdomen more tinged with 

 yellow. 



In a very valuable paper on the structure and affinities of 

 Smithornis in ' The Ibis,' 1914, p. 495, by G. L. Bates, in 

 wliich it is shown that this genus does not belong to tlie 

 Flycatchers nor to the normal Passeres at all, the author 

 places S. capensis albogukms Hart. (Bull. B. O. Club, xiv. 

 p. 73, 1904), from Angola, as a synonym of S. capensis 

 (cape)isis) ; this is quite wrong, as a comparison of speci- 

 mens would have shown at once. The author also included 

 the Mpanga Forest, in Toro, among the localities for 

 S. camarunensis, but not quite correctly, as I have shown 

 above. 



Dr. Hartert showed a book by Mr. Bengt Berg, 

 called " Stora Kai'lso,^^ with some most beautiful photo- 

 graphs of birds and Scandinavian scenery. 



Mr. R. H. Read exhibited a series of eggs of Limicolse, 

 showing how those of many species intergrade, and how 

 unusual or abnormal types of one species are with difficulty 

 distinguished from normal eggs of another. 



A very large round egg of the Oystercatcher resembled in 

 size and grouud-colour a rather small round egg of the 

 Curlew ; whilst one of another set of small eggs of the latter 

 species was indistinguishable from that of a Whimbrel. 

 Another Oystercatcher's egg was the counterpart of the egg 

 of a Stilt, and a third that of a Norfolk Plover, whilst a 

 pigmy specimen was not unlike that of a Pratincole. A 

 Woodcock's egg with a few dark liver-coloured blotches 

 resembled that of a Bartram's Sandpiper, and a set of small 

 Golden Plovers' alongside a set of eggs of the Great Snipe 

 were a puzzle to many members. Perhaps the most in- 

 teresting was a set of small eggs of the Common Sandpiper 

 taken by Mr. Read in Scotland, and exhibited between eggs 

 of Temminck's and the Little Stint, some of the eggs of all 

 three species being practically indistinguishable. Had such 

 a set been found in Northern Europe, they might well have 



