150 HABITS OF BIRDS. 
cares; he attempted to open her bill, in order to 
give her nourishment; his emotion every instant 
increased; he went to her, and returned with the 
most agitated air and with the utmost inquietude ; 
at intervals he uttered the most plaintive cries; at 
other times, with his eyes fixed upon her, he pre- 
served a sorrowful silence. His faithful companion 
at length expired: he languished from that time, and 
survived her only a few months.”* | 
CHAPTER XIII. 
HATCHING AND SHELTERING OF THE YOUNG. — 
Ir is indispensable to hatching, that an equable 
temperature be kept up of about 96 degrees Fahr. 
or 32 degrees Réaum., for at lower temperatures 
the living principle appears to become torpid, and 
unable to assimilate the nourishment provided for 
developing the embryo. Proceeding upon this 
principle, the Egyptians, as well as those who have 
tried the experiment in Europe, have succeeded, by 
means of artificial heat, in hatching eggs without 
any aid from the mother birds. 
According to the best descriptions of the Egyp- 
tian mamal, or hatching oven, it is a brick structure 
about nine feet high. The middle is formed into a 
gallery about three feet wide.and eight feet high, 
extending from one end of the building to the other. 
This gallery forms the entrance to the oven, and 
commands its whole extent, facilitating the various 
operations indispensable for keeping the eggs at 
the proper degree of warmth. On each side of this 
gallery there is a double row of rooms, every room 
* Bingley, Anim. Biog., ii. 224. 
