Vol. xxxvii.] 46 



Mr. P. F. BuNYARD exhibited a clutch of six and a 

 single egg of the Ilooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucuUatus, 

 from Michigan and Iowa, N.A., and made the following 

 remarks : — 



" Sufficient attention does not appear to have been drawn 

 to the remarkable eggs of this species, and no one seems to 

 have taken the trouble to weigh them. From an oological 

 point of view, they are, 1 believe, distinct and quite unlike 

 the eggs of any other species, and widely separated from 

 those of closely allied forms both in the thickness of the 

 s!iell and the arrangement of the pores or pittings. The 

 thickness and general appearance remind one of china ; the 

 pittings are widely separated, coarse and deep, not unlike 

 tliose of the eggs of the Ostrich. 



" For their size (53'95 x43'73 mm., Jourdain), the weight 

 is perhaps even more remarkable, as the following will 

 show: — Maximum, 10*147gr.; minimum, 8'359 gr. ; average 

 of seven eggs, 9'221 gr. 



'' I also exhibit an &^^ of the White-fronted Goose, 

 Anser albifrons, for comparison in size, and whicli weighs 

 10*040 gr., and though very much larger than the heaviest 

 egg of L. cucuUatus weighs 0"107 gr. less. 



'^ Howard Saunders states that the down is dark-coloured 

 and not white — obviously an error, as all the down 1 have 

 examined is greyish white " *. 



Mr. W. L. ScLATER exhibited, on behalf of Lieut. C. G. 

 Finch-Davies of the 1st S.A.M.R., a pair of Francolins 

 obtained by him at Tsumeb in the South-West African 

 Protectorate (formerly German Sonth-West Africa). 



These birds were interesting, as they were intermediate in 

 plumage between Francolinus gariepensis jugularis Biittikofer 

 (Notes Leyden Mus. xi, 1889, p. 7Q : Gambos, in the upper 



* [The paragraph in Saunders' Manual, p. 478, is as follows : — " As 

 far as our present Lnowledge goes, the Hooded Merganser invariably 

 makes its nest in the hollows of trees; and lines it with down, which, 

 according to Mr. G. A. Boardman, is dark-coloured and not white, as, 

 the down of birds which nest in holes usually is." — Ed, ] 



