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Vol. IV. 



JUNE, 1878. 



No. 4. 



That Nondescript Egg. 



BY JAMES S. BAILEY, A. M., M. T>. 



fN reading the leading paper of the 

 last issue of The Oologist, entitled, 

 "A Nondescript Egg," I was puzzled 

 as well as the discoverer, to know what 

 kind of an egg he had found, but I think 

 one fact will be sufficient to upset the the- 

 ory that the nondescript eggs had been laid 

 by its foster parent, the Eobiu. 



If it were possible for the ? Robin to 

 have mated with the Blackbird and her eggs 

 to have been fertilized by the same, so far 

 as external appearances are concerned the 

 eggs would not have been changed in as- 

 pect, but the chick would probably not re- 

 semble either parent, or might partake of 

 the characteristics of one or both. If this 

 hybrid should not prove to be sterile, her 

 eggs might not resemble those of the Robin 

 or Blackbird. The young would, therefore, 

 have cleared the mystery, had the eggs been 

 allowed to have gone on to incubation. 



In 1871, a strange hybrid came into my 

 possession, said to have been a cross be- 

 tween the Guinea hen and domestic Tur- 

 key.* After much labor, I traced the hyb- 

 rid to the gentleman who reared it, and 

 through him and his family, gleaned the 

 following facts. Mr. Matthew Flausburgh 

 of Stony Hill, Albany Co., N. Y., bred the 

 hybrid in this manner. In 1865, he pro- 

 cured some Guinea eggs for a setting. Not 

 having enough, he added eggs of the do- 

 mestic fowl, which were hatched and rear- 

 ed together. The next spring two of this 



brood, a Dominique cock (half Shanghai) 

 and a Guinea hen mated. Their amours 

 were not always conducted in private, for 

 Mr. Hausburgh at one time was an eye- 

 witness. 



The eggs from the Guinea hen were care- 

 fully preserved by Mr. F. and placed un- 

 der a hen, together with a few Turkey eggs. 

 The Guinea eggs hatched in three and a 

 half weeks ; the Turkey eggs not until the 

 expiration of four. The chicks from the 

 Gnniea eggs -were of a smiff color, instead 

 of the usual color of youvg Guineas. Of 

 this fecundation, only three eggs hatched, 

 two of the chicks only lived a day or two. 

 The one referred to grew to maturity. The 

 important points are, that the Guinea eggs 

 were not changed in their characteristics 

 by this seemingly unnatural fecundation. 

 It would not have been evident, had not the 

 chicks presented unusual characteristics 

 which followed the surviving one through 

 life. Another fact deserves notice. The 

 period of incubation in the domestic fowl 

 is 21 days ; that of the Guinea 28 days. 

 The Guinea eggs having been made fertile 

 by the domestic fowl, influenced the period 

 of incubation, which occupied the interme- 

 diate space between three and four weeks 

 for their development. 



It is a well known fact that members of 

 the Finch family cross, as the Goldfinch 

 and Canary, but it is positively known that 

 the color of the eggs is not changed from 

 that peculiar to the parent bird winch lays 

 them. 



*I Avrote and published a paper on this sub- 

 ject and illustrated the bird, in the Country 

 Gentleman; Vol. xxxvi., p. 571. 



The facts above given by Dr. Bailey do 

 not deteriorate the importance of the facts 

 stated in our May number. The only real 

 inconsistency, if so it is, lies in the possi- 

 bility of the nondescript egg being the joint 



