Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/34

10 Number of Eggs.—This is given variously by authors as "four, seldom five" (Howard Saunders's 'Manual,' p. 16); "from four to six" (Macgillivray's 'British Birds,' vol. ii. p. 103); "five or six" (Lilford's 'Birds of Northamptonshire,' vol. i. p. 101). My own experience leads to the conclusion that three, four, or five make up a full clutch. Of nests which I have found three have contained two eggs each; five, three each; fourteen, four each; and two, five each. There is no doubt that in the case of those with two eggs each the hen had not ceased laying. With regard to those with three eggs each, at least one lot was partly incubated. Unfortunately, on several occasions when I found young birds in nests I omitted to note down their numbers; but I have records of three nests each containing three young birds, and of two nests each with four. Ring-Ouzels' nests are usually beyond the beat of the ordinary birdsnesting boy, and they are, moreover, as a rule, on strictly preserved land; so that it seems to me that three eggs may be fairly regarded as a normal clutch.

In conclusion, I should like to raise my protest against the collecting of eggs in clutches. It may satisfy the cravings of mere greed, but I cannot conceive what scientific purpose is gained thereby. I believe that I have as good a series of Ring-Ouzels' eggs as anyone can wish to possess, but it would be no better scientifically if I had carried off every clutch which I have found. It sometimes happens that two varieties are to be found in one nest. Even then it is needless to take more than two eggs. My notes tell me how many eggs each nest contained, and they do this more satisfactorily than can be done by the keeping of clutches, individual eggs of which may get broken. In a public museum it may be desirable to show one clutch of each species, but this can hardly be necessary in a private collection.