THE why and wherefore of the colors of birds' eggs, says Ernest Ingersoll, has been a favorite theme for speculation, from the quaint surmisings of Sir Thomas Browne to the solemn guesswork of Shufeldt, in his ten "biological laws explanatory of the variation in color of the shells of the eggs in class Aves." Hewitson piously concludes that the beauty of these elegant and often exquisitely attractive objects is intended for the delight of human eyes; hence, as he says, eggs simply white are put out of sight in holes! He also sees in the larger number of eggs laid by game-birds a provision by a benevolent Providence for the joy of the sportsman and the delectation of the epicure.

Next comes a man who assures us that the colors of eggs are due to the influence of their respective surroundings on the imagination of the hen birds — the old story of Jacob's little trick on Laban in the matter of young cattle. This school instances as an example the red blotches prevalent on the eggs of falcons, regarded by it as a record of the bloody experiences of the parents; but it does not explain why the equally rapacious owls produce pure white eggs, or the bloodthirsty skuas and shrikes lay greenish ones. Other equally fallacious theorizings might be noted.