Birds. 2301 



Discoloured Eggs of the Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis). — Eggs of the green 

 woodpecker similar in colour to those mentioned by Mr. Newton (Zool. 2229), as hav- 

 ing been taken near Elveden last spring, are by no means of rare occurrence, and I 

 believe the peculiarity is attributable to their having been stained by the moisture in 

 the rotten part of the tree in which the eggs are placed. On the 18th of May, 1846, 

 I took five such eggs from a nest in a decayed elm, two of which T gave to Mr. Bart- 

 lett (well known to the readers of the ' Zoologist ' as the discoverer of the new duck, 

 Paget's pochard), and he afterwards told me that all the colour was very easily removed 

 by simply wiping them with a little wet tow. This is certainly the case ; for one of 

 the remaining three was cleaned with the end of the finger dipped in water. It cer- 

 tainly is not a proof that the colour is only an accidental stain ; for the large dark 

 blotches on the eggs of the guillemot are very easily removed with moisture, which co- 

 lour I believe no one will consider as extraneous ; but there is other evidence for be- 

 lieving it to be so in the woodpecker's eggs, viz., that the feathers of the birds themselves 

 are often much stained, and even matted together in the breeding-season, looking much 

 as though they were stained or painted with liver-colour on the upper tail-coverts and 

 rump, and then varnished : this was the case with the male of the nest from which my 

 eggs were taken. — R. F. Tomes ; Welford, Stratford-on-Avon, September 22, 1848. 



Discoloured Eggs of the Green Woodpecker. — In reply to the inquiries of your cor- 

 respondent, Mr. Hansell (Zool. 2258), respecting a previous note of mine (Zool. 2229), 

 I have to say that the branch of the tree — an ash — in which the woodpecker's nest he 

 refers to was, is so situated that it is impossible that any rain could soak into it, and 

 that there is not now, nor was at the time the eggs were in it, any fungus whose juice 

 could have stained them. The appearance of the eggs is at once, I think, conclusive 

 to show that they could not have been coloured in any way after they were laid. The 

 colouring matter, as in the case of sparrow-hawks' and other eggs, easily comes off, 

 and being of a thin substance the polish of the surface is seen through it. I have 

 within a few days been told by a good naturalist, to whom I showed the eggs in ques- 

 tion, that some years ago he received from a person in this neighbourhood a similar 

 egg ; and further, he was told by an occasional contributor to the ' Zoologist,' that he 

 this year obtained a coloured specimen of the egg of this woodpecker. For your own 

 and your correspondent's satisfaction, I send you the names of the persons I have re- 

 ferred to ; but as I have not their leave for your so doing, I beg you will not print 

 them. If your correspondent is still dissatisfied, I should recommend him next spring, 

 when the sap of the ash tree is up, to try whether it has any effect in colouring a bird's 

 egg. — Alfred Newton ; Elveden, October 9, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe (Upupa Epops) and other rare British Birds near Banff. 

 — In September, 1832, a specimen of the hoopoe was caught alive in the plantations 

 surrounding Duff House, which is in the immediate vicinity of Banff. Of these 

 plantations, which extend for miles in all directions, the public at large are, by the 

 well-known liberality of the Earl of Fife, allowed, at all times and without any excep- 

 tions, to have the unrestricted range. From the circumstance of its having been se- 

 cured by the hand, the specimen in question had in all probability been, more or less, 

 in a state of exhaustion ; and, through some casualty connected with the weather, had 

 probably been driven beyond the limits of its usual haunts. It was obtained by those 

 who were unacquainted with its habits, and it did not survive for any time. In its 

 stomach were found the remains of insects. This is the only instance, within my 

 knowledge, of the hoopoe having been seen or heard of in this particular part of the 

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