Tnly,1913 STUDY OF THE EGGS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN IJMICOLAE 
151 
typical limicoline birds of the plover group. They are darker, being of a clear, 
olive-drab color, moderately dotted, chiefly over the larger half of the egg, with 
irregular black spots and fine little specks, lending to the surface a very delicate 
appearance on account of the elegant shade of the ground color. Size: 1.40-1.50 by 
1. 10 (Cones). “Varying from light olive to deep cream color, rather sparsely 
and irregularly speckled and lined with dark brown, black and pur- 
plish gray,” is Ridgway’s description of the eggs of this plover. He rarely states 
how many there are to the set in the case of any of these smaller pluvialine spe- 
cies : but they probably run from three to four in nearly all the species, if not in 
all. 
All three of the species of oyster-catchers (Hccinafopiis) are to be found in 
Mr. Court’s collection. They constitute a beautiful series of eggs, and examples 
of all of them are given on fig. 46 of this paper (nos. 51-54). As will be noted, 
they do not vary to any great extent ; they run from a deep, dull, buffy shade to 
a creamy bufif, with very pronounced, bold markings of big and little dots, blotch- 
es, fine specks, often coarse, scraggly lines and other irregular designs. These 
are pretty evenly distributed all over the eggs, and are very striking.^ being either 
dull black, Vandyke brown or bistre, often with lighter spots of pale gray. The 
sets run from two to three, and, I believe, never four. 
For our Oyster-catcher (Hccmatopus palliatns) Coues {“Key,” 5th ed., p. 
789) gives the measurements as “about 2.20 by 1.55.” Those of the European 
species (H. ostralegus) are smaller, and, in the case of the specimens at hand, 
darker. In a paper I published in the Report of the U. S. National Museum for 
1892 (pp. 461-493) entitled “Comparative 051 ogy of North American Birds,” T 
said, when commenting on the study of the eggs of the Liinicolcc, that the study 
of the oology of this group is important, for “perhaps the greatest scientific tri- 
umph of oologists lies in their having fully appreciated the intimate alliance of 
the Liinicolcc (the great group of snipes and plovers) with the Gavicc (the gulls, 
terns, and other birds more distantly connected with them) before it was recog- 
nized by any professed taxonomist, L’Herminier, whose researches have been 
much overlooked, excepted ; though to such an one was given the privilege of 
placing that affinity beyond cavil” (Huxley, P. Z. S., 1867, pp. 426, 456-458; cf. 
Ibis, 1868, p. 92) 3 . 
The subject has, however, by no means been exhausted, and even our best 
reference “Keys” and “Manuals” are often derelict in the matter of giving any 
description at all of the eggs of the birds composing this important and interest- 
ing group. 
WITH THE BAND-TAILED PIGEON IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY 
By LAURENCE M. HUEY 
I N THE early summers during the past three years, extended camping trips 
have been made by the writer through the mountains of San Diego County, 
California, on which a good many interesting ornithological notes were tal:- 
en. Among them are some in regard to the Band-tailed Pigeon {Colmnha fas- 
ciata) , as observed in that region. 
On June 21, 1910, while driving slowly up the grade among the trees that 
3 . Newton. Alfred, Article “Birds”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 773. 
