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148 THE CONDOR Vol. X pale greenish-olive, a pale buffy, or a clear, very light, clay color, which last may be darker by being uniformly tinged with light brown. For the most part they are spotted, speckled (often very finely ), and blotched all ,over in the most re- markable way 'with dark vandyke brown, pale gray, and dull iiiac. Sometxme? the blotches of brown are nearly black, and become confluent as shown in no. 19. Ridgway gives cLescriptions of the eggs of l?oth our species of Totanu?, but it is very difficult to tell about the appearance ?d form of birds' eggs unless we present good figures of them, correctly colored if possible. Of the beautiful set of four eggs of the Ruff (Machetes pugna?r) in this col- lection, I present, on fig. 42, three figures of them (nos. 20-22). They are of a rich olive-brown, rather dark, heavily blotched, and speckled nearly all over with dark brown markings of forms shown in the figures. Meagrely interspersed among these, we find some almost imperceptible spots of a pale lilac-gray. Strange to say, Swarm does not describe in his "and-book" the eggs of the Ruff, per- haps for the reason that they are so well known to the collector. Coues, in his "Key" (5th ed. p. 837 ) likewise omitted their description, though possibly for a different reason. For them, according to Ridgway (loc. cit. p. ?68), we have: "Eggs ?.7? by ?.2o, light olive or olive-buff, spotted with vandyke brown or bistre," a description that would not correctly c[escribe the set in this collection, though I doubt not it might apply to other speci.mens of Ruff's eggs. In some, the ground color is really a deep,. rich olive, untinged by any brown shade, as was the case with the specimen shown in no. 2?, and still more so in an unfigured one of this set. Few, if any, of our sandpipers ever lay a handsomer egg than is laid by the well-known Spotted Sandpiper (?4ctitis macularia). Two specimens of these are given in nos. ?5 and ?6 of fig. 4I, the exceptionally handsome one being given in no. ?5. These eggs, that is, the set of four in which no. ?5 belongs, are of a very pale greenish white (almost white), being spotted and blotched all over wlth blackish brown markings and with a few very faint lilac ones. Another set of four (see no. ?6) has the ground tint a very pale clay color, tinged with olive, the markings consisting of much finer blackish brown spots, flecks, and the minutest dottings imaginable. There are also a few faint, semi- concealed spots of a very pale purplish lilac, which would escape notice unless especially looked for by the observer. Average examples of the eggs of the Long-billed Curlew (Numenius amer- icanus) are reproduced in nos. 28-3o on fig. 43- There are twenty eggs of this species before me, equally divided into five sets. They vary to some extent in form, size, and color, and withal are not particularly handsome eggs, being dull in color, often with weak, undecided markings.' Ridgway gives the ground color of the egg of this species as "light grayish buff or pale buffy brown"; while Coues ("Key" p. 842) comes nearer the mark when he says they are "clay-colored, tend- ing either to darker olivaceous shades or to buff." All the specimens in this col- lection are either of a dark olivaceous, or a medium shade of that color. The markings are of various tints of brown, never very dark, and a few of a pale lilac. There is generally, but not always, a tendency for the heavier markings to be at the big end. They are both elongate and short pear-shaped (Coues, 2.45- 2.80 by ?.80-?.9o; Ridgway, 2.59 by ?.8o). The Whimbrel (N. phceopus) lays eggs that are aboat one-third smaller than those of the Long-billed Curlew; the ground color is more of a clayey tint with less olive in it, and the dark brown markings are often massed and confined to