A POT-HUNTER'S DEFIANCE 8i 



form egg, pointed at one end, so that if the wind 

 should blow hard on it or anything should touch it 

 accidentally, the egg would whirl round on its 

 own axis and not roll off the ledge of rock into the 

 sea." 



*'But why do some birds have only a few eggs, 

 while others have a lot?" the boy asked. ''Is 

 there any particular reason, or does it just hap- 

 pen so?" 



"In Nature, nothing 'just happens,' " the other 

 replied ; ' ' everything has a reason and generally a 

 very important one. Take these eggs, now. You 

 can be sure that birds which lay only one or two 

 eggs have few enemies and can be moderately sure 

 of hatching their eggs and of the baby birds living 

 to maturity ; birds w^hich lay many eggs are those 

 who are surrounded by dangers and which, there- 

 fore, must expect that a certain proportion of 

 nests will be destroyed and the young killed. 



"Look at the Murre, who lays that single eggj 

 pointed at one end, of which I spoke a minute 

 ago. The Murre breeds in great colonies, together 

 with the Razor-billed Auk and the PuflSn, and these 

 colonies are on a barren rock in the sea. The 

 nests are so close together that there isn't an un- 

 covered spot on the rock large enough to put down 



