138 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



eggs laid by these birds, i. e. that they are conspicuous among birds for their 

 tender affection for their mates, and that the eggs always hatch out male 

 and female in the same nest." Why should this affection to their mates, 

 or the fact that the two eggs usually hatch out male and female, cause them 

 to lay only two eggs ? As a matter of fact, I have frequently known the 

 two eggs of Domestic Pigeons hatch out two males. In discussing Plovers, 

 Mr. Davies makes the statement that in species in which the young are 

 hatched fully formed and able to run, the egg is abnormally large for the 

 size of the bird. Is this so ? Roughly speaking, the Pigeon and Partridge 

 are about the same size. The young Pigeou comes into the world blind and 

 perfectly helpless, while the young Partridge is hatched well-formed and 

 able to run ; yet the Pigeon's egg is if anything rather larger than that of 

 the Partridge. Again, the young of the Guillemot, which lays as big an 

 egg in proportion to itself as almost any other bird, are hatched in a help- 

 less condition. In Section VIII. I find : — " Owing to the cover afforded 

 by the stems, the young (of Crakes and Rails) need not be so large when 

 hatched as the young of the Plover, consequently the eggs are much 

 smaller, and the hen can incubate a greater number." Why need they not 

 be so large? I should think it would be of more advantage to a young 

 Plover, hatched out in the open, to be small, than it would be to a young 

 Water-Rail, which among the reeds and rushes would not be so easily seen. 

 And then, is a newly-hatched Rail much smaller in proportion to the adult 

 than a young Plover? Lastly, in Section IX., Mr. Davies writes of game- 

 birds: — "I should not be surprised to learn that they were originally less 

 prolific before they were persecuted under the name of sport." It is well 

 known that game-birds are not only not " persecuted " during the breeding 

 season, but that they are perhaps better preserved than any other bird. 

 Are not the large clutches produced by Pheasants and Partridges rather 

 due to the almost semi-domesticated life they lead, and to the artificial 

 feeding, where they are very strictly preserved. This would account for the 

 least-preserved species, i. e. the Ptarmigan, laying the smallest clutch. But 

 this is only a suggestion. As an example of a local variation in fecundity, 

 I may quote the Yellowhammer, which hardly ever lays more than three 

 eggs in Fifeshire. I hear that clutches of three are not uncommon in 

 Gloucestershire also. Seebohm gives four to five as the usual clutch of 

 this bird. — Bernard Riviere (St. Andrews, N.B.). 



Some interesting Variations in the Plumage of certain Birds.— 

 Chaffinch (Fringilla ccelebs).— Plumage white, with the exception of rather 

 more than half the tail-feathers, upper tail-coverts, one primary and one 

 or two secondaries in one wing ; also a few feathers scattered over the head, 

 neck, and wing-coverts, which are normal. Besides this there is a faint 

 tint of canary-yellow on the back and secondaries, and the rump is de- 



