272 HEERMANN'S NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA. 



the fishing eagles pure white or only faintly blotched, whilst the true falcons have a 

 white egg, often so strongly marked as to make the whole surface appear of a dark 

 red ; the pigeons and parrots have all white eggs, the tinamous have highly polished 

 and colored eggs ; the genera Charadrius, Scolopax and Tringa have all pear- 

 shaped eggs, etc. etc., and these distinctive characters are the more readily seen and 

 remarked when so large a collection as that of the Academy is presented for study to 

 the naturalist. It is for this reason that I have given much attention to this branch ; 

 and among the species which I found in California, I met with but two remarkable 

 deviations from this rule, viz: in the eggs of the Pipilo fusca and Agelaius xantho- 

 cephalus, which are mentioned in these notes. The eggs of the Pipilo fusca are the 

 counterpart of those of our three other species of Agelaius, which closely resemble each 

 other ; and that of the Agelaius xanthocephalus is almost the fac simile of the egg 

 of our Pipilo erythrophthalmus. 



I have also made a large collection of aquatic birds of California, but not having 

 yet received either them or my notes, I pass them over in silence at present. From 

 the few advantages which I possessed, in travelling on horseback, I have no doubt 

 that many interesting objects escaped my notice, and that there is yet a wide field 

 for the naturalist in that country. Oregon, and especially Russian America, have 

 not been well explored, and in the latter it is highly probable that, in Ornithology, a 

 rich and abundant harvest could be reaped, by the persevering and enthusiastic 

 student of nature. 



