84 THE ZOO0OLOGIST. 
Saunders, in a letter to me, admits that he has never seen any Roseate 
Terns’ eggs taken in the Old World that run into some of the variations, &c., 
of Arctic Terns: “ that is (he says), there is no bluish or greenish ground, 
and the shape is decidedly more elongated; but American eggs taken by 
men of good repute so far were not so distinct.” T, like Mr. Grabham, have 
seen very elongated eggs of the Arctic Tern, but I should not mistake 
them for Roseate’s. In my last note to ‘ The Zoologist’ on this subject I 
put a ? after “late” when referring to the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, whom Iam 
very pleased to hear is still hale and hearty.—E. G. Porrsr (14, Bootham 
Crescent, York). 
On the reported Summer Appearance of two Species of Birds in 
Lapland.—In answer to Prof. Collett (Zool. ante, p. 25), I can only say 
that to the best of my belief the birds in question were what Mr. Wollaston 
and myself reported them to be, namely, Bernicla brenta and Phalaropus 
fulicarius. We spent a long time watching the Geese, which were at no 
great distance from us, and we both had field-glasses. Mr. Wollaston went 
to the other side of the lake, and tried to drive the birds towards me, while 
I hid with the gun; but they would not move from the middle of the water. 
From the fact that they did not attempt to fly, it seems not improbable 
that the young birds were unable to do so. ‘The Phalaropes were a great 
deal nearer to us, and we identified them as we did the Geese, while the 
birds were still before us, with the help of the ‘ Handbook of European 
Birds,’ written by Mr. Backhouse. It is quite possible that the Phalaropes 
were on migration, as the date on which we saw them was Aug. 9th. Short 
of actually shooting them, I do not think we could have been more careful 
about the identification; and the picture of the Phalaropes with the other 
birds by that pool at Kautokeino has been so often in my mind since that 
I cannot help feeling glad we did nothing to disturb it. — Herpurt C. 
Payne (Clifton College). 
At what Hour of the Day do Birds most usually lay their Eggs ?P— 
It would be interesting, I think, to have on record the experiences of 
readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ on this subject. It is almost a certainty that 
birds do not lay during the night, but rather in the early morning. My — 
own experience is to this effect. However, I have known isolated cases 
where the daily egg must have been deposited late in the forenoon. I 
should say the most usual time, restricting the actual limits as much as 
possible, is between six and seven o'clock; that is, provided we take the 
month of May as a typical egg-laying month. I may explain my proof of 
this. In my morning walks, while living in the country, I have gone 
round those nests I happened to know of, between the hours of eight and 
nine, and found an additional egg deposited in every one. But on one — 
