132 
W. BICKERTON-NOTES ON BIRDS 
to me. It was noteworthy that the egg was of irregular shape; 
in fact, it was not■“bilaterally symmetrical” as all normal eggs 
are, but had an unusual malformation on one side. Koughly 
speaking, it was a little smaller than the egg of a hedge-sparrow. 
Mr. Holland-Hibbert also told me that he had obtained a similar 
egg from a similar kind of nest the year preceding, hut that in 
this case the nest had been built on the inside ledge of the roof 
of a summer-house in another part of the garden. I was able 
to see an egg from the 1902 nest side by side with one from the 
1903 nest, and they were alike in all respects. The bird itself 
was described as very elusive and difficult to see, inasmuch as it 
left the nest immediately anyone approached, and slipped down 
amongst the undergrowth and bushes very stealthily. Only one 
of the members of the household had caught a passing glimpse of it, 
and described it as being “ red in front, something like a robin.” 
After gleaning all the facts possible and carefully weighing all 
the evidence both as to the birds, nest, and egg, I came to the 
conclusion which had gradually been forming in my mind, viz., 
that the nest and eggs were those of the redbreast. The circum¬ 
stances, however, were quite abnormal, and failing a sight of the 
bird, they were sufficiently so to mislead any naturalist who had 
not been brought face to face with a difficulty of the kind before. 
The considerations which influenced me in arriving at this con¬ 
clusion were the following. (1) The irregular and abnormal 
shape of the egg clearly betokened some malformation in the bird’s 
oviduct, and the fact that the eggs taken in two separate, yet suc¬ 
cessive, years were similarly misshapen, clearly demonstrated this. 
(2) Granting a malformation in the oviduct, the fact that the eggs 
were totally different from the normal eggs of the robin in shape, 
size, and colour is easily explained, for an abnormally developed 
oviduct might easily produce eggs differing in all these respects from 
normal eggs. These eggs were pure glossy white, with no trace 
of spots or markings of any kind. Here, again, the fact that two 
years’ eggs in succession were similarly abnormal strengthens the 
conclusion. (3) The bulky nature of the nest and the slovenly 
manner in which it was built, together with the quantity of moss 
about the cup, strengthens the view as to its being a robin’s. 
(4) From the well-known character of the robin for building in 
unexpected or “curious” situations, there is nothing peculiar in 
this one building one year on a ledge in a summer-house and the 
next in a well-sheltered side of an evergreen five feet high and out 
in the open. (5) The fact that the lady who saw it had the 
impression that, generally speaking, it was “ like a robin,” 
strengthens the evidence. (6) The whole argument was confirmed 
in my mind by a somewhat similar incident brought to my notice, 
several years ago in a large Midland city where I then lived. 
A lad living in the country brought to me some peculiar eggs that 
no one could identify. They were almost exactly of the size and 
shape of the kingfisher’s eggs, but instead of the white glossy 
surface of such eggs they were, of a uniform light sky-blue and of 
