CHAPTER XVI. 



THE EGG. 



Excepting a few of the very lowest forms in the animal 

 kingdom, everything possessing animate life has come 

 from an egg ; not as we see it when laid by a bird, but 

 as such an egg would appear if stripped of the shell, the 

 different parchment-like coverings, and the albumen. 

 The ovary of the bird, situated under the hump of the 

 back-bone, consists of a cluster of yolks like a bunch of 

 grapes, the yolks being held to the stems somewhat as 

 an acorn is held in the cup. As puberty comes on, the 

 yolks which have been small, but of various sizes, grow 

 rapidly, and as they reach the full size are ready to 

 be fertilised by the male ; after which they drop oflP, 

 and in passing down the ovary duct, first the albumen 

 (the white), is added to them, then the white skins, of 

 which there are two, then the shell, and lastly the 

 colouring, when the egg is given forth, containing with- 

 in its shell all that will constitute the future bird. The 

 germ floats on the top of the yolk, being suspended 

 from the two ends of the egg by two spiral cords, the 

 mechanism of which is so beautiful that no matter how 



