Some Remarkable Nests axd Eggs. 8i 



eggs capable of holding 12,000 of those produced 

 by a Humniing-bird, 150 of those laid by a Coin- 

 HKJii Fowl, or nine (lropp(."d by an Ostrich. Just 

 fancy sitting down to such an egg for breakfast, 

 and having to crack its three-quarters-of-an-inch- 

 thick shell with a coal-hammer ! 



Birds' eggs also vary greatly in size (juite irre- 

 spectively of the size of the ])arent birds. A 

 Common Curlew is a smaller bird than a Raven, 

 but the illustration on page 80 shows how greatly 

 their eggs differ in the opposite direction, aUhough 

 it is oidy fair to add that tbe former bird's full 

 complement of eggs is only four, whereas tbe latter 

 lays from live to seven. The explanation cf ibo dit- 

 ference is that the young of the Curlew I-ci^in to 

 run aliout imong coarse grass, rushes, and licallh r 

 direetly th»y are hatched, and tberefore need tlicir 

 a(hlitional size and strength much more than the 

 young Ravens, which are carefully ied and tended by 

 their parents in a nest until they are nearly full- 

 grown, well-feathered, and able to Hv. 



The size and shape of eggs laid by birds of the 

 same species also vary to some extent, as mav be 

 seen by a glance at the two Thrushs' and two 

 Blackbirds' eggs on the next page. It is youn^ 

 birds that generally lay the smallest di^^^^, during- 

 their tirst breeding season. 



Most people have seen the miuiatiu-e eggs 

 dropped by domestic fowls towards the end of tbe 

 laying season, but I do not think it is at all 

 G 



