74 



Remains of Birds Eggs found at Fisherton, near Salishury. 

 Bj H. P. Blackmore, M.D., Salisbury. Communicated 

 by Sir William Jardine, Bart. 



In " The Geologist" for October last, Mr Blackmore of 

 Salisbury, while giving a list of the fossil mammalia and 

 flint instruments obtained in the Pleistocene districts of 

 Fisherton, near Salisbury, states — " Although you ask no 

 information with regard to birds, it may be interesting to 

 some of your readers to know that fragments of such fragile 

 things as birds' eggs have been obtained from the same 

 deposits ; one in point of size and thickness of shell would 

 correspond, if entire, to that of a goose, the other to that of 

 a moor hen." This being the first record, we believe, of 

 the remains of eggs having been found with those of the 

 lower animals and others of like time, attracted our atten- 

 tion, and in reply to our inquiry Mr Blackmore has kindly 

 sent the following particulars to Mrs Strickland : — 



" Both fragments of egg-shells are in my possession ; the 

 larger of the two, which I think is probably part of the egg 

 of Grey-Lag Wild Goose^ was found in March 1861, by work- 

 men digging brick earth in Mr Baker s pit. The clay, sand, 

 and gravel in this pit are slightly stratified, and at one point 

 are nearly 30 feet in thickness. The shell was found about 

 14 feet below the surface, the soil above having evidently 

 never been disturbed. Within a few feet of the spot where 

 the shell was discovered the men found two small bones, 

 one the coracoid, and the other about the upper three- 

 fourths of the femur of a species of Anser, corresponding in 

 size with similar bones of the Qrey-lag. The shell itself is 

 stained of a pale fawn colour, and both upon the in and out- 

 side has many small superficially raised incrustations ; hence 

 I infer that the shell must have been already broken when 

 embedded in the clay. 



" Since writing to ' The Geologist,' I have joined the frag- 

 ments of the smaller egg more perfectly together, and find, 

 from the small size of the fragments, I formed an erroneous 

 opinion of the size of the egg. The restored fragments I 

 have carefully compared with a collection of recent British 



