55 [Vol. xi. 



dominicus, and Tringa maculata. The eggs of the last species 

 he believed to be the first sent to this country. The eggs of the 

 Eiders were interesting, as showing that those of all the three 

 species found in Europe can be identified, not only by their 

 size, but also by the colour of the down, which in the 

 Common Eider is light, in the King-Eider darker, and in 

 Steller's Eider darker still. All the eggs exhibited had 

 been taken by Mr. Mcllhenny's expedition to Alaska in 

 1898. 



Mr. P. E. Blaauw, CM. Z.S., wished to draw attention to 

 the fact of Theristicus melanopis having a fleshy throat- 

 wattle during the breeding-season. He had kept living 

 examples of both Theristicus melanopis and Theristicus 

 caudatus at 'sGraveland during several years in an aviary, so 

 that he had had good opportunity to observe them. The 

 fleshy caruncle or wattle in the middle of the throat was black, 

 of about the size and shape of a sixpence, and was of a very 

 soft structure. When the breeding-season was over, this 

 wattle shrivelled up and finally quite disappeared, so that 

 only a few wrinkles remained on the bare skin of the throat. 

 The absence of this wattle out of the breeding-season 

 and its soft texture, even when present, were probably the 

 reason of its having been overlooked by Count Salvadori 

 and others, who evidently only had dried skins of this bird 

 at their disposal. 



One of the characters hitherto given of the genus Theris- 

 ticus, " throat without a fleshy wattle in the centre," was 

 therefore not quite correct. Theristicus caudatus had never 

 developed any fleshy appendage during the breeding-season 

 or out of it ; the presence or absence of the throat-wattle 

 was, therefore, an additional distinction between Theristicus 

 melanopis and Th. caudatus. 



Mr. Blaauw also exhibited an egg of Chen rossi, laid by a 

 female of this species kept by him in captivity in his park at 

 'sGraveland. The egg had a longish shape and was cream- 

 coloured, resembling the egg of Chen hyperborcus, but being 



