AVES. 
63 
the same periodical for the preceding year (pp. 339 and 435) ^ 
in which the author treated of the colouring, size, and relative 
form, maintaining that the views |^of Prof. Blasius (Bericht der 
XIII* Versammlung der D. O. G. p. 46), as to the impossibility 
of distinguishing between eggs of Biiteo vvlgaris, Milvm ictinm 
and M. ateVj were erroneous. The subjeet of the present article 
is the grain of the shell. Dr. Altum, from the examination of 
a large series, defines fourteen difierent kinds of granulation ob- 
servable in the eggs of B. vulgaris ; that which he considers most 
usual, and ealls Bussardlcorn,^^ is when the otherwise smooth 
shell appears undulating,^^ and in aecordance with these defini- 
tions he minutely describes the specimens eomposing sixty layings. 
He concludes by stating, also at some length, the results at 
which he has arrived. 
Altum, B. Die spirale Anlage in der Zeichnung vieler Vogel- 
eier. Journ. f. Orn. 1864, pp. 103-105 (potius, pp. 87-89)* 
The author says the spiral disposition of marking is found 
only in eggs of the Buzzard, most of the wadeTs, and niany of 
the swimming-birds. The twist is always to the right hand. 
A left-handed spiral is unknown to him, and such an exception 
would be as great a rarity as a similar deviation from the normal 
type in a snail-shelL 
Beavan, R. C. Specimens of Birds^ Eggs collected in the 
neighbourhood of Barrackpore. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, 
pp. 375-377. 
Twenty -four species are enumerated, and a description of the 
eggs is included in Dr. Jerdon^s ^ Birds of India.^ 
Blackmore, II. P. Remains of Birds^ Eggs found at Piskerton 
near SalisbiO'y. Edinb. New Philos. Journ. 1864, vol. xix. 
N. S. pp. 74, 75. 
Pragments of two eggs were found in brick-earth, one about 
14 feet, the other about 20 feet below the surface, which had 
never been disturbed. They are supposed by the author to 
belong to Anser ferus and Anas hoschas ; with the first egg were 
bones corresponding with those of the speeies to which the eggs 
are assigned. 
Cochrane, J. H. Note on the Nesting of the Banner Falcon 
(Falco lanarius, Schlegel) . Ibis, 1864, pp. 183, 184. Errata 
noticed op. cit. pp. 429, 430. 
Two eggs are figured (plate. iv.), one that of F. lanarius] the 
other, as subsequently stated, is supposed to be that of F. bar- 
barns, though the reasons for the correction are not given. 
Dobree, a. On the Nest and Eggs of the Coaeh-whip-bird 
and of the White-fronted Ephthianure, with some general 
