CARE OF THE EGGS. 285 



fussing of teuer than is commonly understood. Hence 

 the practice, which is correct, of turning incubator eggs 

 twice a day, this being none too often. 



The structure of the egg, so well known nowadays 

 as to hardly need repetition, is such that the minute 

 germ spot which is the seat of life and around which 

 the chick forms, rises always at the top of the egg 

 whichever side up the latter may be placed, like a cork 

 in a tight barrel of water when the barrel is rolled over. 

 In nature, when the new-laid eggs are not gathered, but 

 left in the nest, they are always turned a little, when the 

 number has reached four or five, by the layer when mak- 

 ing room for her feet as above described, and sometimes, 

 but not always, she rolls the eggs with her beak like a 

 sitter. The maternal instincts are so jumbled in some 

 cases by the taint of the blood of a non-sitting breed 

 introduced at some time, perhaps a long while ago, into 

 strains of sitters, that adherence to the ancient heredi- 

 tary proprieties is not always precise. As all gallina- 

 ceous birds prefer to make their nests in a shady and 

 rather moist and cool place and afford their treasures 

 some change of position, the artificial storage of eggs 

 for hatching should be in a moderately cool and not over 

 damp cellar, and they should also be turned at least once 

 a day. 



Rival manufacturers dispute over methods of turning 

 eggs by the incubator operator. One says that they 

 should be gently rolled, and not suddenly flopped by 

 inverting the tray. But the vigorous shuffle of the 

 hen's feet above remarked, and the fact that eggs often 

 hatch well after having been carried a dozen miles by 

 wagon over extremely rough and rocky roads, or two 

 thousand miles by rail, shows that there need be little 

 solicitude concerning the results of revolving an egg 

 tray, especially as nobody goes at it hammer and tongs, 

 owing to the fragile nature of its contents. 



