11 



themselves. Any one would immediately recognize the close 

 affinity which those of the different species of Crows bear to 

 each other, as also those of the Owls, the Ducks, the Divers, 

 the Buntings, the Titmice, the Sea Gulls, and the Terns, 

 (greatly as the latter differ individually). In shape, the eggs 

 of the Grebes are very peculiar, as are those of the more 

 typical waders. This affinity is not confined to genera only, 

 but may be traced, more or less, in most of the families, and 

 is very remarkable throughout the Scolopacidae, in colour, 

 shape, and number. The eggs are, with one exception only, 

 much pointed at the smaller end, and are invariably four in 

 number. 



There is too, in many genera, a beautiful analogical resem- 

 blance with others nearly allied to them. The Eagles and 

 Hawk tribe (nearly all of which breed aloft,) approach in their 

 habits of breeding on the ground and the colour of their eggs, 

 by the genus Circus, that section of the Owls which is the 

 most Hawk-like, the species of which (departing from the 

 habits of the rest of the family) breed also upon the ground. 

 The eggs of the following genera, Corvus, Fregilus, Pica, and 

 Garrulus, are all closely allied, as are those of the Roller, 

 Merops, and Alcedo. 



Eggs are subject to much variety, and are not without those 

 apparent discrepancies which beset the study of other branches 

 of Natural History, and which are only to be reconciled by 

 oft-repeated observation, and by combining with their study a 

 knowledge of the nests in which they are found. And thus, 

 as regards the different species of a genus, although the eggs 

 of some of the Thrushes usually bear but slight resemblance 



