160 . THE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



eggs on ground in wood ; June 11th, 1888, nest with two eggs 

 on ground in wood ; May 24th, 1889, nest with six eggs on 

 bank in meadow ; May 30th, 1891, nest with eight eggs in 

 bank in wood. As these nests all contained eggs, their 

 identity was absolutely certain, for, in spite of the implica- 

 tion contained in Mr. Horn's closing remarks, I may be 

 trusted to distinguish the eggs of the two species under 

 consideration ; although it is a fact that many seemingly 

 competent ornithologists may not be so trusted. Thus, in a 

 recent note to Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, I had occasion to point 

 out that there was a set of Chiffchaff's eggs among the eggs 

 labelled as Willow-warblers' in the cabinet collection placed 

 in the British Boom at the Natural History Museum. The 

 set in question belonged to the type having rather large and 

 light spots in place of small dark specks; and this leads me 

 to ask Mr. Horn whether he does not rely mainly upon the 

 shell surface in distinguishing the opaque white eggs of the 

 Chiffchaff from the somewhat semi-transparent, as well as 

 differently-marked, eggs of the Willow-warbler. It must 

 not be forgotten that I describe the Chiffchaff's nest as "on 

 or near the ground," for I am willing to concede that there 

 may be actually more nests off the ground than on it ; yet I 

 have never seen a nest at a greater height than 10 inches, 

 while in the case of the Willow-warbler I have on several 

 occasions found a nest at twice that height, and even more. 



IN QUEST OF THE EBNE. 

 By Bobert Godfrey. 



During a tour in Shetland last summer, I was exceedingly 

 anxious to see the Erne or Sea-eagle, in her native haunts, and 

 in my constant ramblings from place to place, ever made this 

 bird one of my chief objects of enquiry. The natives appeared 

 to be familiar with it as a spring migrant, and were generally 

 able also to refer to one or more eyries reputed to be occupied 

 by these birds. I was told of at least thirteen different eyries 

 distributed amongst six islands, but as a fair number of these 

 were traditional, we may safely limit the number of existing 



