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CHAPTER YII. 



n^HE hen which was induced, good easy Dame Partlet, 

 -*- to bestow her maternal affection upon an egg of the 

 wedge-tailed eagle laid in the Garden of the Zoological 

 Society, was, — it will be in the remembrance of those 

 who amuse themselves by looking into these simple 

 annals — ' left sitting/ 



The first egg was laid on the 27th of February in this 

 year, and was, it will be recollected, placed under a 

 common hen, but was removed after the expiration of 

 twenty-one days in an addled state. 



The second egg — that on which the hen was left 

 sitting at our last notice — was laid in the first week of 

 March, and was removed, after a patient incubation of 

 twenty-two days, addled also. 



On the 29th of March a third egg was produced, but 

 it was destroyed by the parents. 



April 4. — Another egg was this day laid, but no 

 attempt was made to get it hatched. 



The imprisoned parents made a poor apology for a 

 nest of birchbroom and straw — the materials within their 

 reach; but instead of manifesting any intention to do 

 the parental ofiice, the birds wanted to destroy every one 

 of the eggs, and the keeper found it necessary to look 

 very sharp to prevent them from carrying their ovicidal 

 propensities into effect. 



This reversal of the great law of Nature is not con- 

 fined to birds. The sow and the rabbit, if disturbed at 

 the critical moment, will not unfrequently devour their 

 offspring, — as those know to their cost whose impatience 



