220 ON GENERATION. 



to bury them in dung, covered with earth. And there was a 

 tale in Syracuse, of a drunken fellow, who was accustomed to 

 continue his potations until a number of eggs, placed under a 

 mat bestrewed with earth, were hatched/' The empress Livia, 

 is also said to have carried an egg in her bosom until a chick 

 was produced from it. And in Egypt, and other countries, at 

 the present time, chickens are reared from eggs placed in ovens. 

 " The egg, therefore," as Fabricius 1 truly says, " is not only 

 the uterus, and place where the generation of the chick pro- 

 ceeds, but it is that upon which its whole formation depends; 

 and this the egg accomplishes as agent, as matter, as instru- 

 ment, as place, and as all else that concurs." 



For it is certain that the chick is formed by a principle in- 

 herent in the egg, and that nothing accrues to a perfect egg 

 from incubation, beyond the warmth and protection ; in the 

 same way as to the chick when disclosed, the hen gives nothing 

 more than her warmth and her care, by which she defends it 

 from the cold and from injury, and directs it to its proper food. 

 The grand desideratum, therefore, once the chickens are 

 hatched, is that the hen lead them about, seek for and sup- 

 ply them with proper food, and cherish them under her wings. 

 And this you will not easily supply by any kind of artifice. 



Capons, and hybrids between the common fowl and the 

 pheasant, produced in our aviaries, will incubate and hatch a 

 set of eggs ; but they never know how to take care of the 

 brood to lead them about properly, and to provide with ade- 

 quate care for their nurture. 



And here I would pause for a moment, (for I mean to treat 

 of the matter more fully by and by,) to express my admiration 

 of the perseverance and patience with which the females of 

 almost every species of bird, sit upon the nest for so many days 

 and nights incessantly, macerating their bodies, and almost 

 destroying themselves from want of food; what dangers they 

 will face in defence of their eggs, and when compelled to quit 

 them for ever so short a time, through necessity, with what 

 eagerness and haste they return to them again, and brood over 

 them ! Ducks and geese, when they quit the nest for a few 

 minutes, cover and conceal it with straw. With what true 



1 Op. cit. p. 19. 



