72 Position in Shell. 



indicative of future activity, considering the 

 quiescent^ state, rolled up like a ball, in 

 which it has lain from the time of its form 

 being complete. Its form and position 

 IN THE SHELL are as follow — the neck curves 

 or slopes towards the belly, on about the 

 middle of which the head is placed ; the 

 bill under the right wing, like a bird asleep ; 

 the feet are gathered up beneath the belly, 

 like those of fowls trussed for the spit : the 

 claws reversed, almost touch the head from 

 their convexity. The fore-part of the chick- 

 en is generally placed towards the biggest 

 end of the egg, adapted by nature to that 

 purpose ; the whole body is surrounded by 

 a membrane of considerable strength and 

 thickness, confining him in a position ap- 

 parently the most unfavourable to the mo- 

 tions necessary to his emancipation : it is 

 nevertheless without changing his attitude 

 that he performs his seemingly most diffi- 

 cult task ; repeated strokes with his httle 

 bill, which may often be heard, break the 

 shell of the egg, at the same time tearing 

 the sohd membrane, in which he is enve- 



