274 NOTES AND NEWS, 
certain district they immediately acquire, unfortunately for them- 
selves, a fictitious value, and only this year, I am sorry to say, no 
less a sum than 45 was offered for a clutch of the eggs of these very 
birds about which I am writing, and which I rejoice to say was 
very properly refused. When will collectors cease putting such a 
premium on the destruction and obliteration of some of our rarer 
and most interesting birds, for when once driven away from a 
district they can very seldom be brought back again. It is all very 
well to say that if one clutch of eggs is taken the birds will lay again, 
but if everyone acted on this principle a veto would be put upon the 
propagation of the species. The photograph was taken by Mr. W. J. 
Clarke, of Huntriss Row, Scarborough, with a Loman’s Reflex, 
}-plate, and considering the disadvantages of time and surroundings 
—four o’clock in the morning, and in a dense fog—it is excellent. 
As will be seen from the photograph, one of the eggs is much rounder 
and more heavily marked than the other—it was a_ beautiful 
specimen, with scrollings on it like one sees on some specimens of 
the eggs of the Oystercatcher. The gentleman on whose property 
the birds breed tells me that this difference usually exists, and that 
he has never known there to be more than three pairs of the birds. 
One day when I was with him this spring I saw two pairs on the 
wing together close to me. The birds generally arrive early in May, 
leave in August, and never lay more than two’ eggs to each pair; 
the eggs are as difficult to find as those of any bird with which I am 
acquainted, for the birds themselves are most cunning and wary, and 
the eggs assimilate most closely in colour to the ground and stones 
amongst which they are laid. All the birds that I have put up flew 
off uttering their whistling note. Last year one pair of the birds, for 
some reason or other, deserted their eggs when they had been 
incubated for only half their time, and this year I much regret to 
State that, owing to a misunderstanding, one clutch of the eggs was 
taken. However, I have reason to hope that in both instances the 
birds laid again and safely hatched their young. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
We have received from M Tessrs. Macmillan & Co. a 2 of « shilling book 
onging to Dobbie’s series Be 5 sig gr vera Ha soaker 2% ie The Dablia | 
bel 
its History and Cultivatio: | By ard D ee Fife, 
Seve S. — antyie Sica | oon | Willizin pee 2 — 
a rent types and |a very complete List of the Variet! 
Cultivation . 1896 London | Macmillan anak Co, Laned |. = | 1897 
The book is of handy size, well got up, and runs to 80 pages w 
nine ih illustrations, bat is rather outside what may be regarded as brie 2 
Nateralist 
about 
phere 
