ON GENERATION. 221 



magnanimity do these ill-furnished mothers defend their eggs ! 

 which, after all, perhaps, are mere wind or addle eggs, or not 

 their own, or artificial eggs of chalk or ivory; it is still 

 the same, they defend all with equal courage. It is truly a 

 remarkable love which birds display for inert and lifeless eggs ; 

 and their solicitude is repaid by no kind of advantage or enjoy- 

 ment. Who does not wonder at the affection, or passion rather, 

 of the clucking hen, which can only be extinguished by a 

 drenching with cold water. In this state of her feeling she 

 neglects everything, her wings droop, her feathers are un- 

 pruned and ruffled, she wanders about restless and dissatisfied, 

 disturbing other hens on their nests, seeking eggs everywhere, 

 which she commences forthwith to incubate; nor will she be at 

 peace until her desire has been gratified, until she has a brood 

 to lead about with her, upon which she may expend her fer- 

 vour, which she may cherish, feed, and defend. How pleasantly 

 are we moved to laughter when we see the poor hen following 

 to the water the supposititious brood of ducklings she has hatched, 

 wandering restlessly round the pool, attempting to wade after 

 them to her own imminent peril, and by her noises and various 

 artifices striving to entice them back to the shore ! 



According to Aristotle, 1 barren eggs do not produce chicks 

 because their fluids do not thicken under incubation, nor is the 

 yelk or the white altered from its original constitution. But 

 we shall revert to this subject in our general survey of gene- 

 ration. 



Our housewives, that they may distinguish the eggs that are 

 addled from those that will produce chicks, take them from the 

 fourteenth to the sixteenth day of the incubation, and drop 

 them softly into tepid water, when the spoilt ones sink, whilst 

 the fruitful ones swim. If the included chick be well forward, 

 and moves about with alacrity, the egg not only rolls over but 

 even dances in the water. And if you apply the egg to your 

 ear for several days before the hatching, you may hear the 

 chick within kicking, scratching, and even chirping. When 

 the hen that is sitting hears these noises, she turns the eggs 

 and lays them otherwise than they were, until the chicks, get- 

 ting into a comfortable position, become quiet; even as watchful 



1 Hist. Anim. lib. vi, cap. 2. 



