Page:Condor15(4).djvu/12

 144 THE CONDOR Vol. XV brown, or nearly black, blotchy dots (often confluent) and smeared ones that mark them more or less all over, is the rule with them. These markings vary but little, being si.mply thicker in some specimens than in others. Similar in general color, in patterns of markings, and in form, the eggs of the Black-necked Stilt (Himantopu. mexicanu) closely resemble-those of the Avocet, a fact Mr. Ridgway long ago pointed out in his "Mcnual," page I47, when he stated, in regard to this species of Stilt: "Eggs 3-4, 1.79 x 1.23, similar in coloration to those of Recurvirostra americana." See nos. 46 and 47 of fig. 45 of the present paper. Coues likewise stated in the last edition of his "Key" (pp. 792, 793) that the eggs of the Stilt "resemble those of the Avocet, but average decidedly smaller," while his description of them is different from those of other describers: "Eggs 3-4, pyriform, 1.6o-I.85 x i. I5-.25; greenish-drab or pale brownish-olive to dark ochraceous, boldly marked all over with spots and splashes of blackish brown." Passing to the Scolopacidce, there is first to be noticed the pretty eggs that the Woodcock (Philohela minor) lays (no. I7, fig. 42). This egg is generally more rotund than the eggs of limicoline birds ordinarily are, the Woodcock itself being a stocky species. The eggs in Court's collection are of a pale clay color, very faintly tinged with lilac. They are spotted and blotched, chiefly toward the butt, with irregular, rusty-brown spots, and a still fewer number of pale lilac or . faint purplish-gray. These hecome very much smaller in size and fewer in number toward the apex or pointed end. Coues gives these spots as "numberless," which I have never found to be the case. As to their size he also states: "averaging 1.5o x LI8; a short broad one 1.4o x L2o; a long, narrow one 1.55 x .I5" ("Key," 5th ed. p. 804). Swann 9 describes the eggs of the European Woodcock (Scol- op&r ru.ticola) thus: "Eggs: 4; pale buff, blotched with pale and dark reddish- 'brown, and with underlying lilac blotches; shape somewhat globular; 1.7o by I :30." Both the European Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) and the Wilson Snipe (Gal- finago delicata) lay very different eggs from those of Philohela minor, or, indeed, any of the woodcocks. Eggs of the first-mentioned species are shown on fig. 4r of this article in nos. I3 and 4, while those of the Wilson Snipe are given on fig. 44, nos. 31-33 . It is likely that sometimes the eggs of these two species closely resemble each other, and this is not far from being the case with respect to two of the eggs before me, while others are very different. For examination I have, at the present time, two sets of each species of these snipes, all having four eggs to the set, which is the usual complement. On the figures, the eggs are all re- produced nearly natural size, and their fo:ms are absolutely accurate. Sometimes the eggs of the Wilson Snipe are of a very dark olive-brown, the blotches and markings being of a deep bistre, and occurring chiefly near the larger end (nos. 32 and 33). Instead of blotches--or at least associated with them--we find scrawly scratches as shown in no. 33. The Wilson Snipe also lays a palish olive colored egg, with smaller brown spots and blotches, and a few pale lilac spots interspersed among them (no. 3I). These chiefly encircle the butt. The European Snipe also lays both light colored and dark colored eggs, somewhat similarly spotted and marked. Much to my surprise Swann describes the eggs of Gallinago gallinago as be- ing, "pale yellowish, with an olive tinge, blotched with reddish-brown and black- ish, and with underlying lilac marks; t.6o by i.t5" (loc. cit. p. I78). Ridgway 2. Swarm, H. Kirke, A Concise Hand-book of British Birds, London, 1896, p. 177.