Wiltshire.
At Chiltern there is a sport widely practised by the boys, which they call “egg-hopping.” At the commencement of summer the lads forage the woods in quest of birds’ eggs. These, when found, they place on the road at distances apart in proportion to the rarity or abundance of the species of egg. The hopper is then blindfolded, and he endeavours to break as many as he can in a certain number of jumps. The universality of the game, and the existence of various superstitions, combined with their refusal to part with the eggs for money, would warrant a supposition that some superstition is connected with it.—N. & Q. 3rd. S. vol. iv. p. 492.