196 



THE YOUNG NATUEALIST. 



ture go very far in forming a technical judge | 

 of birds' eggs. Therefore, by all means, let j 

 each young oologist keep a good series of j 

 each species, common or rare, plain or vari- j 

 able in markings. I am quite sure if I had 

 not done so nobody would have cared a rap 

 for my opinion about an egg. Form goes a 

 long way to decide critical species, but tex- 

 ture — that is, the finer or coarser, smoother 

 or more glabrous or duller appearance, as the 

 case may be — will always give a close ob- 

 server of texture a good and correct idea 

 what the egg really is. Of course, a series 

 may be longer than is even required for this 

 purpose, but I am not inclined to dispute 

 about that. My late friend, J. F., Brockholes, 

 had a large drawer full of Skylarks' eggs, 

 and had not amongst them anything like the 

 wonderful varieties I have in my series of 

 about three dozen, It pleased him, occupied 

 his time, in fact, kept him out of mischief, 

 and did the birds no harm, because it is well 

 known, if a bird's eggs are taken, she imme- 

 diately prepares another nest, and lays again. 

 I have no time to illustrate fully what I mean 

 by differentiating by texture and form to- 

 night, but will let supper wait until I say the 

 House Sparrow's egg is often seen in collec- 

 tions labelled the Cuckoo fCuculus anorus); 

 in form it is very like the egg of the Cuckoo, 

 and the markings are variable in both ; but 

 the true oval of the Cuckoo egg, and its more 

 glabrous texture, at once separate it from the 

 irregular oval and duller — always dull — egg of 

 the House Sparrow. And now, to hark back 

 to my starting point, to be practical is every- 

 thing. Glass partitions are made by fixing 

 strips of glass, width to suit size of eggs, the 

 exact length of the drawer, at such distance 

 as may be chosen, say four inches apart, and 

 crossing them by other strips four inches 

 long, cut exact. The last one fixes the whole 

 row, and thus glass boxes are formed, which 

 admit light all round the eggs. A few 

 minutes serves to fill a drawer with these 

 divisions if the strips are cut to size. And 

 now, having got your drawer divided, cut 



your cotton wadding to the exact size by a 

 wood or zinc tinplate, and drop the pieces 

 into each compartment. It now only remains 

 to pat in the eggs. 'Since eggs have a ten-; 

 dency to turn hole up, and we wish to avoid 

 that, decide first how many are to go into the| 

 first compartment ; if two, wet the hole side 

 with your tongue, and lay them exactly 

 where you should wish them to remain, and 

 so with all the others ; the spittal will be 

 found in practice just able to hold the eggs 

 fast where you want them now, and they 

 could well be removed without any trouble 

 or injury. The sides of my drawers for eggs, ! 

 shells, or insects are papered with bright 

 green, and everybody I know likes it so well 

 that as they re-paper they adopt it; and my 

 shell cabinet is divided in rows with strips of 

 dark glass, one-eighth of an inch wide, laid 

 upon the bottom. 



BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. Mosley. 

 Genus VI. — Falco, Linn. 



Falco. — The Latin name for a Falcon. 



This genus comprises some noble and beau-l 

 tiful birds, not only remarkable for theirj 

 beauty of plumage, but also for their daring! 

 and courage in pursuit of their prey, hence! 

 they were highly, valued to train and fly at! 

 game. We have four species in Britain,! 

 which vary greatly both in colour and size,; 

 but our smallest is much larger than some 

 West Indian species, which are not much 

 larger than Sparrows. Two or three species 

 are occasional or accidental visitors to this 

 country ; these will be spoken of afterwards.; 



In this genus the upper mandible is much; 

 hooked, strong, and with a notch or tooth on 

 each side. All the species have a dark patch 

 of feathers on each side of the lower jaw ; 

 this is sometimes called the moustache. The 

 wings have the second quill feather the 



