XXIX 



of its lute possessor would receive the acknowleclgnient "wliicb 

 so raanv years of patieut labour demauded. 



]\Ir. ScLATER stated tbat lie vras informed bj' Capt. S. 

 Pasfield Oliver that the latter T\-as about to publish a 

 trauslation of the Jourual of "Le Sicur D. B./^ from a- 

 copy of this rare volume in the possession of Prof. Newton^ 

 at Cambridge. ]\Ir. Sclater exhibited the Zoological Society's 

 ?.1S. copy of this bookj v.hich Avas formerly in possession of 

 the late Charles Telfair^ C.]\I.Z.S. The Avork Tvas most 

 interesting to ornithologists as containing an account by an 

 eye-witness in 1671 of the plumage and habits of the 

 " Solitaire '" or Dodo of Bourbon {Pezopl/aps solitarii'.s). It 

 vras noTT known that the name of the author of the volume 

 was Du BoiSj and that it was published in Paris in 1674. 

 {Cf. Newton, Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. p. 374.) 



j\Ir. E. BiDWELL invited the members to the Upper Hall, 

 Avhere an exhibition of Cuckoos' eggs and those of the foster- 

 parents had been prepared; but before the adjournment for 

 that purpose, lie made a few remarks as to the scope of the 

 present exhibition. He also direw attention to the important 

 difference in the weight of the! Cuckoo's egg when compared 

 with that of the majority of those of their foster-parents. 

 By their much heavier weight the eggs of the Cuckoo 

 could nearly always be disting^uished. 150 eggs in his own 

 collection, measured and weighed by him, gave the following 

 results : — i 



Longest egg 24"50 millimetres. 



Shortest egg 19|"50 „ 



Broadest egg ... 18'''75 „ 



Narrowest egg .. . 14i"50 „ 



Largest egg 23 :50 X 18"75 millimetres. 



. Smallest egg ... 19;'50x 14-50 „ 



Heaviest egg ... 31,2 milligrammes. 



Next heaviest egg 270 „ 



Lightest egg . . . 14jI „ 



Next lightest egg 147- „ 



