192 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



RATIO BETWEEN THE SIZE OF THE CHICK AND THE EGG. 







According to a German author, the chick, at the moment 

 of escape from the egg, weighs about two thirds as much as 

 the original egg. Ii\ therefore, it is desirable to have strong 

 and large chicks, it is necessary to see that only the heaviest 

 eggs are hatched. The average weight of hens' eggs may be 

 estimated at about ten to the pound ; some weigh consider- 

 ably more, and others much less than this proportion. By 

 pains in selecting large eggs, it will be possible, according to 

 the usual theory of selection for breeding, to secure a race 

 of chickens of large size. 9 (7, June, 45. 



DODO PIGEON. 



A contemporary gives an interesting account of the tooth- 

 billed or dodo pigeon {Didunculus strigirostris) lately sent to 

 London from the Samoan Islands, and we may perhaps sup- 

 plement that account by mentioning the fact that this bird 

 was first collected by the naturalists of the United States Ex- 

 ploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes, and described by 

 Mr. Titian R. Peale, the veteran zoologist. Two specimens 

 were brought back by Captain Wilkes, one of them now con- 

 tained in the collections of the National Museum under the 

 charge of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, the 

 other belonging to the Museum of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, Philadelphia. The species is, as stated in the arti- 

 cle referred to, nearly extinct, and will probably be entirely 

 exterminated in a few years, when it will take its place with 

 the great auk, the dodo, and many other species that have 

 disappeared from the surface of the earth within the histor- 

 ical period. The resemblance of the bill of this bird to that 

 of the dodo is quite marked, and by studying its character 

 naturalists were led to refer the giant dodo to the pigeon 

 family, and not to that of the vultures, as had been previously 

 suggested. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE OSTRICH. 



The ostrich has usually been considered as peculiar to the 

 continent of Africa, where two species have been recognized, 

 one belonging to the northern portions, the other to the re- 

 gions nearer the Cape of Good Hope. Curiously enough, 





