AN INTERESTING OBSERVATION 271 



as I say, not carried, I am quite certain, for I 

 caught, through the glasses, the full oval outline, and 

 could see, where the beak pierced it, a thin, trans- 

 parent streamer of the albumen depending from the 

 hole, and being blown about by the wind. As birds 

 remove the shells of their hatched eggs from the 

 nest, I took particular pains not to be mistaken on 

 this point, the result being absolute certainty as far 

 as my own mind is concerned. The circumstances, 

 however, were not such as to allow me to verify 

 them by walking to the spot. Early on the follow- 

 ing morning I returned to my post of observation, 

 and now I at once saw, on using the glasses, the 

 empty egg-shell, as it appeared to be, floating on 

 the water just where I had seen it sink the day 

 before. No doubt the yelk-sac had been pierced 

 by the bill of the bird, so that the contents had 

 gradually escaped, and the shell risen to the surface as 

 a consequence. This moorhen, then, had destroyed, 

 at the very least, as 1 now feel certain, five of its 

 own eggs, for that, on the first two occasions, it had 

 acted in the same way as on the last three, there can 

 be no reasonable doubt, nor is it wonderful that I 

 should not, then, have quite made out what it was 

 doing, considering its quick disappearance and the 

 hurried view of it that I got. Afterwards, I saw the 

 whole thing from the beginning, and had a very 

 good view throughout. At the nest, especially, the 

 bird was both nearer to me, and stood in a good 

 position for observation. 



Here, then, we seem introduced to a new 

 possibility in bird life — parental prudence, or some- 

 thing analogous to it, purposely limiting the number 



