i 7 3 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



reproductive organs are developed in the walls of the 

 canal system." 



The body by reflected light often assumes the 

 varying tints of a rainbow ; the emerald tint is 

 especially striking. We hope we have now said 

 enough to induce others to study it, in the homely 

 colander aquarium. 



J. F. Robinson. 



NOTES ON DWARF EGGS. 



MOST poultry fanciers are familiar with the 

 small eggs sometimes laid by the domestic 

 hen, and popularly known as "dwarfs" — the pre- 

 vailing notion regarding which is, that they are the 

 last eggs that will ever be laid by the fowl which 

 produces them. They are also sometimes called 

 centenine eggs — from the Italian centcnina, the 

 hundredth — because of the vulgar belief that when 

 the fowl has laid about a hundred eggs, she lays one 

 or two small ones, which are the last. It is probable 

 that the frequent handling the fowls undergo at the 

 hands of their owners may have something to do 

 with these freaks of nature in domestic fowls by some 

 injury to the ovaiy. This explanation, however, will 

 hardly hold good with those instances more rarely 

 met with amongst birds in a wild state, but which 

 doubtless have often their origin in some accidental 

 injury to the ovarian organs. I think, too, their 

 origin may often be attributed to the great strain 

 upon the productive powers of the bird when its eggs 

 are repeatedly taken. 



In some countries these " dwarfs " are looked upon 

 with superstitious dread by the simple country people. 

 In an article on the " Superstitions and Customs of 

 Touraine," in "Chambers's Edinburgh Journal" for 

 1845, it is said that " the dwarf eggs laid by hens are 

 believed to be produced by the cock, particularly by 

 old cocks. These . are called les cognards, or cock's 

 eggs, and if submitted to incubation, and allowed to 

 be hatched, they will produce that very formidable 

 animal called a basilisk, which is a species of winged 

 dragon, whose eyes by a single glance are able to 

 destroy the unfortunate person who comes within 

 their influence ; if, however, a man is able to fix his 

 eye first upon the basilisk, the latter dies immediately. 

 The same superstition prevails in Bretagne, where is 

 shown a well in which there once existed a crocodile 

 which possessed the same destructive powers as the 

 basilisk of Touraine, but which was at length for- 

 tunately destroyed by the powerful eye of some 

 beholder, who was beforehand with the dreadful 

 animal." "Old Bushaman," in the "Spring and 

 Summer in Lapland," says, "You occasionally find 

 in the nest of the ptarmigan one small egg, scarcely 

 larger than a musket ball. This^the Laps never take, 

 for they fancy it is the egg of a snake." I am not 

 aware that the "snake" theory prevails in any part 



of England, but in this district, dwarf eggs of do- 

 mestic hens are mostly pronounced to be "cock's 

 e gg s >" and it is considered extremely unlucky to 

 attempt to hatch them. 



I have always taken an interest in these monstros- 

 ities, and have many good examples in my cabinet. 

 I have eggs of domestic hen no larger than that of 

 a sparrow or robin. Amongst geese and turkeys 

 they are of unfrequent occurrence, and I have never 

 seen any that might really be called dwarfs ; but I have 

 seen some small ducks' eggs, and one I have is about 

 the size of a song-thrush's. I have seen it stated that 

 dwarfs are most commonly met with amongst the 

 Rasores, and but very rarely amongst the Grallatores 

 — but I have taken many good examples of lapwing 

 ( V. cristattts), some of them really curious ones. I 

 have three the size of, and another a little less than, 

 a thrush's egg. Two I took on the Langdale Fells 

 are precisely like those of the dotterel [C. Morinellus), 

 and I came very near admitting them into my collec- 

 tion as such. A shepherd had sent me word that a 

 pair of birds, which from his description seemed to be 

 dotterels, frequented the summits of some of the hills. 

 Being very desirous to obtain authentic specimens of 

 this rare egg, I agreed with him to spend several 

 days in thoroughly searching the most likely places. 

 In the course of our hunt he stumbled upon a nest 

 containing the two small eggs I have mentioned, and 

 at once signalled to me that he had found the dot- 

 terel's nest. I lost no time in joining him, but when 

 I saw the eggs and nest I had a misgiving that they 

 were not — what I would fain have had them be — 

 dotterels, but merely dwarf lapwings. To be quite 

 certain, we hid ourselves, and soon came the old 

 lapwing and settled herself down upon the eggs — 

 which appeared to have been some time incubated — 

 thus destroying my hopes. I mention this as a warn- 

 ing to collectors that they cannot be too careful in 

 determining species, especially such eggs as the 

 dotterels'. I have two others, very singular-looking 

 ones, being remarkably long in proportion to their 

 breadth, measuring \\ inch by \ inch. They are 

 exactly alike, well shaped, and are so darkly marked 

 as to appear to be almost black. One of them I took 

 on Fairsnape Fell, and in the same nest was an 

 enormously large egg measuring 3 inches in length 

 by 1 5 inch in breadth, which, on blowing, I found to 

 contain two yolks. It is rather singular that all my 

 "dwarf" lapwings were taken on the Fells. In 

 1877 I found a nest of snipe (S. gallinagd), with five 

 eggs, one of them being a "dwarf" little larger than 

 a thrush's. The same year I took an egg of red 

 grouse (L. Scoticus), exactly the size'of a robin's egg, 

 nearly round, and beautifully marked, the entire 

 colouring of a full-sized egg appearing to be lavished 

 upon it. I have an egg of blackbird (71 merula), no 

 larger than a wren's egg, and another about as large 

 as a robin's. This season I found a nest of song- 

 thrush, containing three very small eggs, the size of 



