2LJ 
The lack of a standard color chart, or possibly in the majority of cases, 
the absence of any guide whatever other than the eye and the describer's 
own personal ideas of colors, alone prevents me from tabulating the notes 
in some form or other, for they are very voluminous and bear evidence 
of much labor and care. A straw will show the way the wind blows 
however, and the descriptions emphasize my former remarks under this 
heading. 
That “there is no honor among thieves," is an old saying, yet the 
Crow has no enemy worth considering that is notoriously addicted to 
robbing her nest, and protective coloration can have no special significence 
to any of the genus ; and if it were so, the bulky nest would prove an 
effectual bar to any such hypothesis. We will have to look further for 
an explanation of the color phenemena. Dr. M’Aldowie in his admirable 
Observation^ s' on the Development and Decay of the Pigment Layer on 
Birds's Eggs, says, “All organic objects which are liable to be exposed 
to the sun’s rays are protected by one color or other.” While this may be 
and probably is true, with a number of exceptions ; yet why do the eggs 
of so many widely distributed species, and the one under consideration 
in particular, exhibit the heaviest and deepest colors in the more northern 
portion of their breeding range ? That the sun is much more powerful 
near the equator, no one will question. Admitting that the bird has no 
power over the color of its eggs, it would appear that the more southern 
egg would require the most protection and the “ survival of the fittest” 
would have obliterated all pale specimens long ago. The nest is seldom 
shaded on account of its high position. I have often noted that the 
brooding bird flies directly away from the sun when unexpectedly startled, 
and always appears to keep her head directly opposite the sun when sit¬ 
ting, on a warm, sunshiny day. While the tropical and sub-tropical 
avian fauna contains the most gorgeous and richly plumaged species, 
the eggs are by no means colored in proportion. The leaves probably 
afford more protection in the South in most cases, but not always ; an 
evergreen affords like conditions where-ever found. 
It is obvious to me that the climatic conditions of the North have more 
influence over the color and coloration by reason of the sudden changes 
in the temperature from warm to cold, than that of the heat alone ; and 
in lieu of a thicker shell, the pigment is used more liberally, the more 
robust constitution of the bird rendering this, as well as the production 
of a larger egg, possible. 
Coloration. —While the average writer may describe the ground color 
of an egg fairly well, if he has a “Standard Nomenclature of Colors," 
we all frequently fail to give the reader a clear conception of the coloration. 
