OOLOGICAL ECCENTRICITIES. 133 



However, with regard to Mr. Seebohm's idea that the 

 light-coloured egg generally found in a Tree-Sparrow's nest 

 may be the result of exhaustion on the part of the colour- 

 producing powers, such an hypothesis is scarcely to my liking, 

 though doubtless it may be considered presumptuous in me to 

 differ from so eminent an authority on matters where birds 

 and their habits and economy are concerned. Still, it seems 

 to me not a little strange, with odd eggs so frequently repre- 

 sented in the clutches of other species, either by way of a few 

 comparatively large blotches instead of innumerable small 

 spots, or else by an altogether distinctive colouring, that the 

 author quoted should have rested content with the theory he 

 has suggested, more especially as it is certain that the parti- 

 cular egg under discussion is not invariably or necessarily, as 

 some people seem to think, the last one laid. And yet, in the 

 case of a Wheatear's nest wherein the seventh and last egg 

 laid was freckled with brown — though I had here proof positive 

 of the date when the variable egg made its appearance in the 

 clutch, and this fact may seem to tell against my contention 

 that the normal eggs are not necessarily laid first and in due 

 order — such an experience goes to disprove Mr. Seebohm's 

 hazarded explanation, and to show, on the contrary, that in 

 this particular instance the Wheatear's colour-producing 

 powers were, so to say, just on the point of being brought into 

 play, for the remaining six eggs were of the more usual type, 

 that is, without spot or speck of any kind. 



However, I must cease. And yet the problem is so replete 

 with interest, and has, so far as I am aware, met with such 

 slender consideration at the hands of historians, present as 

 well as past, that I have been emboldened to toy with it 

 myself, chiefly, I may add, in the hope that some of those to 

 whom we are accustomed to look for light and leading where 

 birds are concerned may feel inclined, when in the possession 

 of a few leisure moments, to set forth their own ideas and 

 hypotheses thereanent. 



It is interesting to find that in the highest latitude (i.e., 85*5° N., due 

 north of Franz Josef Land) reached by Dr. XaDsen's vessel, the Fram, 

 the only birds that could be observed were Guillemots and Fulmars. 



