370 THOMASSON : ARE THE SAME SPECIES OF BIRDS MORE 
nest with eight eggs. Of the Chaffinch in Norway, Collett says: 
‘ Eggs, generally five, seldom four ;’ which, as to England, would be 
put more accurately perhaps as ‘four or five.’ 
Collett mentions finding a nest of the Redstart on the Dovre 
Fell, Norway, with nine eggs, the usual number in England, 
according to Seebohm, being ‘five or six, occasionally seven, and 
even eight.’ Hewitson says, ‘five to eight.’ Speaking of the 
Christiania district, Collett says: ‘The eggs are nearly always seven 
in number, sometimes only six, seldom eight.’ He appears never to 
have found as few as five. As to the Black Redstart, the nearest 
allied species, which does not nest in the north, its eggs, according 
to Seebohm, are usually five, ‘ sometimes only four are laid ; and six, 
and even seven, have been recorded.’ 
Of the Robin in England, according to Hewitson, ‘ the eggs are 
mostly four or five, sometimes six, and even seven in number.’ 
According to Seebohm ‘the eggs of the Robin are from five to 
eight, but probably six may be taken as an average clutch.’ 
Whereas Collett (Christiania district) says: ‘The number of the 
eggs is as often seven as six,’ thus never supposing the bird to lay as 
few as five. 
Of the Garden Warbler, Hewitson says: ‘The eggs are four mf 
five.’ Seebohm: ‘Four or five, in some cases as many as six” 
whereas Collett, again in Christiania district : ‘ Oftener five than six,’ 
thus mentioning five as the minimum number. 
Of the Whitethroat Hewitson says: ‘The eggs are four or five 
and sometimes six in number ;’ and Seebohm : ‘ From four to six;’ 
whereas Collett says: ‘ The egys are nearly oftener six than five in 
number.’ : 
The word ‘nearly’—in Norsk ‘naesten’—seems to have got in 
by mistake, or I have failed to translate it properly. 
Seebohm says the eggs of the Wren ‘ vary from four to six, and 
even eight or nine in number. Clutches of still larger numbers are 
on record, but are very exceptional.’ Hewitson says: ‘ Notwith- 
standing the number of eggs which the Wren has been said to lay, 
I have pad succeeded in finding more than eight, and rarely more 
than seven.’ Collett says: ‘ The eggs are generally eight in number.’ 
Turning to another genus, Hewitson says that the eggs of the 
Red-backed Shrike ‘are four or five in number ;’ Seebohm, ‘from 
four to six;’ while Collett says of the Christiania district : ‘ The eggs 
are oftenest six, sometimes only five in number.’ 
My own experience of this bird is that in Surrey I have flushed 
birds from two nests with five eggs each, and found another nest with 
seven eggs. At Wiesbaden, Germany, I have flushed birds from five 
Naturalist, 
