THE OOLOGIST. 



27 



respect to birds; and in no case, which ever 

 came under my observation, have I found 

 greater difference than in respect to the 

 above mentioned. I look upon the egg of 

 the Apteryx as purely exceptional. The 

 very strong texture of the shell which na- 

 ture h;.s used for the care of the iEpyornis 

 _ maximus has a meaning surety, and I con- 

 strue it thus: she had a larger and heavier 

 embryo to deal with. The localities of de- 

 posit for each egg may have been different; 

 eggs which are laid ou wood in holes of trees, 

 certainly have harder shells, such as those 

 of the Picidaa (in spite of which I have 

 known a claw stuck through them) the 

 Madagascar egg had no such cause for 

 strength, no rocks probably to resist. 

 However, I do not of course oppose myself 

 as regards the comparative altitude of these 

 great birds to the recorded opinion of 

 great an authority as Professor Owen, and 

 we can only hope to obtain at some future 

 time a series of complete skeletons of the 

 bird. 



I have said that I believe the colour of 

 these large eggs resembles that of the Ostrich 

 iu which I observe Professor Owen concurs: 

 they never had the green of the Emeu, for 

 in that instance the strong green is laid on, 

 in a grauulated network, so to speak, and 

 the shell beneath is even stained, so strong- 

 is the colouring matter. Now the granulat- 

 ed network of this egg remains, and clearly 

 never had any such powerful green on it as 

 that which stained the egg of the Emeu. ' 



In reference to the large size of the egg 

 of the Apteryx, Professor Owen remarks: — ' 

 The young bird must be excluded unusally 

 well developed, with a complete clothing 

 very like the parent, and capable of using 

 its limbs and beak for its own safety and 

 support.' The period and mode of incuba- 

 tion in a state of nature would be a matter 

 of interest in this species. 



Brighton : March 12, 1864. 



[This paper was published in 1864 by 

 Trubner & Co. , London, and Thomas Page, 

 Brighton.— Ed. J 



Fish Crow. 



ijormis osslfragm Wilson. 

 Just after dark on the fourth of Decem- 

 ber, 1816, the Yacht Nina was hove to, 

 some miles at sea, off North Island, South 

 Carolina. All day we had been sailing down 

 the coast before a fine breeze, but now the 



wind was freshening and, as the dangerous 

 Roman Shoals lay just in our course, we 

 had decided that it was best to put into the 

 Pedee Itiver. Ducks, Loons, and other sea 

 birds had been flying towards land for the 

 last few hours, great cumulus clouds were 

 rolling acioss the darkening sky, the sea 

 was rising fast, in fact everything indicated 

 ; a coming gale. We were waiting for the 

 moon to rise for, although the Georgetown 

 Light sent its guiding lajs to us, the pas- 

 sage across the bar was intricate and diffi- 

 cult to follow in the darkness. Soon the 

 east brightened, and then the silvery disk 

 came pushing upwaid, quickly illuminating 

 the waves which were begining to toss wild- 

 ly under the influence of the rising wind. 

 Giving one more look at the chart which ■ I 

 had been somewhat anxiously studying, I 

 came on deck and we put our little vessel's 

 head on her course, steering directly toward 

 the land. For an hour or more we dashed 

 onward, till at Inst we could see the low, 

 black line of the coast. As we drew nearer, 

 we could discern the white sandy beach 

 shining in the pale moonlight, then the 

 sound of breakers came to our ears but still 

 we resolutely kept on for I knew that our 

 only safety lay iu this course. Suddenly, 

 just as we seemed to be leaping into the now 

 foaming breakers, we swung around and 

 ran along the smooth beach just outside the 

 breakers. It soon became apparent why 

 we took this way for we could see a long 

 line of white-capped waves breaking over a 

 shoal that lay to the eastward. So we ran 

 on between the land and leef until the 

 great, luminous eye of the light-house 

 opened upon us from behind the palmetto 

 trees that stood on North Island, then we 

 once more turned landward, this time sail- 

 ing directly into the mouth of the river and 

 anchored under the lee of a point. It was 

 well for us that we did for in an hour the 

 wind was blowing such a gale that, shelter- 

 ed as we were, our yatch dragged her anchor 

 and we were obliged to put over a second. 



As we. laid there two days I had a fine op- 

 portunity of collecting the birds on the 

 neighboring islands. I never remember 

 seeing a more lovely spot than North 

 Island. It consisted of small hillocks 

 withponds interspersed at intervals, while 

 the whole was covered with a thick growth 

 of trees; the evergreen live oak, stately 

 magnolias r glossy-leaved bays, beautiful 

 palmetoes, and large holleys giew in jir- 

 f usion. They were covered with vines and 

 draped with long streamers of Spanish 

 moss, and the whole was surrounded by a 

 ridge of white sand which formed a very 

 appropriate setting for the most perfect 

 gem of an island that I ever saw. 



The wind was blowing hard and cold 



