| OCR Text |
Show J(i PROF. A. NEWTON ON NEW OR RARE BIRDS* EGGS. [Jan. 17, third time the honour of offering to it some remarks on new or rare birds' eggs, which the kindness of several scientific friends has placed it in my power to make. In the present case these friends are (as on a former occasion) the authorities of the Smithsonian Institution (Professors Henry and Baird), Mr. E. L. Layard, and Dr. Cunningham. 1. LEUCOSTICTE GRISEINUCHA. This, received from the Smithsonian Institution, is a perfectly white egg, measuring *97 in. X *67 in. I am not aware that the egg of any species of this genus has been before described. 2. THERISTICUS MELANOPIS. (Plate IV. fig. 8.) I have already described this specimen in the 'Ibis' (1870, p. 502), and it is unnecessary for me now to say more about it than that I owe it to Dr. Cunningham. 3. CALIDRIS ARENARIA. (Plate IV. fig. 2.) Mr. Gould has lately shown (B. Gr. Brit, part xi.) that hitherto nothing has been known with certainty about the breeding of this bird, one of the commonest winter visitants to the temperate regions of both New and Old Worlds. The egg has several times been announced as having been obtained ; but the specimens so recorded differ materially from that which I now exhibit, as that also does from those figured by Thienemann (Fortpflanz. gesammt. Vo*>\ t. lxii. fig. 2) and Biideker (Eier europ. Vog. t. lxxi. fig. 5), so that I can hardly doubt that the egg now on the table is the first genuine Sanderling's which has been seen in Europe. It was sent to me by the Smithsonian Institution ; and the ticket accompanying it shows that it was procured by Mr. M'Farlane on the Barren Grounds of America, near the Anderson River ; and the fact that the parent bird (?) was shot leaves no room for doubt as to its authenticity and proper identification. It measures 1*43 in. x *98 in. The nest was said to have been of hay and decayed leaves. 4. MACRORHAMPHTJS GRISEUS. This egg, not hitherto described, is also from the Smithsonian Institution. It resembles in general marking and colour that of a Redshank (Totanus calidris) ; but the specimen is unfortunately so much broken that I cannot give its dimensions, or propose that it should be figured iu the Society's ' Proceedings.' 5. NUMENIUS BOREALIS. (Plate IV. fig. 1.) Another of the generous gifts of the Smithsonian Institution, and interesting as the egg of a scarce straggler to the Old World'. It shows in its appearance a connexion between the genera Numenius and Limosa (L. lapponica), and measures 2*04 in. x 1*43 in. It was obtained by Mr. M'Farlane from an Esquimaux on the Arctic coast of America, east of the Anderson River. |
