Vol. xxvii.] 58 



upper slopes of the Bass. At the present day the Gannets 

 were almost entirely confined to the cliffs, where alone they 

 found security from interruption. 



Mr. W. P. Pycraft gave a short account of his investiga- 

 tions relating to the down-plumage of the Barn-Owl [Striae 

 flammea, Linn.) ; pointing out that in that species, as, 

 apparently, in all the Owls, two distinct generations of down- 

 feathers were developed. The protoptyle, or first generation, 

 in the Barn-Owl had. so far never been described and was 

 not easy to detect. The second, or mesoptyle generation, 

 consisted of larger, longer, but very degenerate feathers, 

 contrasting strongly with the mesoptyle feather of the Tawny 

 Owl (Syrnium aluco, Linn.). He also pointed out that the 

 term " mesoptyle " did not indicate a feather intermediate 

 in structure between the typical down-feather and the 

 typical contour-feather, but the down-feathers of the second 

 generation, which were of a much more degenerate character 

 in some birds than in others. 



Mr. Pycraft then exhibited a drawing of the head of 

 Gould's Harrier {Circus assimilis, Jard. & Selby), showing 

 the aperture of the ear, which he compared with that of the 

 Owls, to which it bore some resemblance. 



The Bev, P. C. B. Jourdain exhibited a clutch of three 

 eggs of the large Eastern form of Bewick^s Swan, Cygnus 

 bewicki jankoioskii, Alpheraky, from Okhotsk. They were 

 distinctly larger than those of the Western race, four eggs 

 averaging 110'2x70'9 mm., and they appeared to furnish 

 an instance in which the eggs of a subspecific form were 

 distinguishable. 



A very interesting exhibition of nests and eggs of Cross- 

 bills was then held. The greater part of the exhibits 

 consisted of eggs of the Continental Crossbill, Loxia curvi- 

 rostra curvirostra, Linn., which had been laid during the 

 season 1910 in different parts of England and Ireland ; but, 

 for purposes of comparison, a number of Continental-taken 



