536 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book X. 



her early youth of Tiberius Caesar, by Nero, was particularly 

 desirous that her offspring should be a son, and accordingly 

 employed the following mode of divination, which was then 

 much in use among young women : she carried an egg in her 

 bosom, taking care, whenever she was obliged to put it down, 

 to give it to her nurse to warm in her own, that there might 

 be no interruption in the heat : it is stated that the result pro- 

 mised by this mode of augury was not falsified. 



It was perhaps from this circumstance, that the modern in- 

 vention took its rise, of placing eggs in a warm spot and cover- 

 ing them with chaff, the heat being maintained by a moderate 

 fire, while in the meantime a man is employed in turning them . 

 By the adoption of this plan, the young, all of them, break 

 the shell on a stated day. There is a story told of a breeder 

 of poultry, of such remarkable skill, that on seeing an egg he 

 could tell which hen had laid it. It is said also that when a 

 hen has happened to die while sitting, the males have been seen 

 to take her place in turns, and perform all the other duties of a 

 brood-hen, taking care in the meantime to abstain from crow- 

 ing. Eut the most remarkable thing of all, is the sight of a 

 hen, beneath which ducks' eggs have been put and hatched. 

 At first, she is unable to quite recognize the brood as her own, 

 while in her anxiety she gives utterance to her clucking as 

 she doubtfully calls them ; then at last she will stand at the 

 margin of the pond, uttering her laments, while the duck- 

 lings, with Nature for their guide, are diving beneath the water. 



CHAP. 77. (56.) THE BEST EXNDS OF FOWLS. 



The breed of a fowl is judged of by the erectness of the 

 crest, which is sometimes double, its black wings, reddish beak, 

 and toes of unequal number, there being sometimes a fifth placed 

 transversely above the other four. For the purposes of divi- 

 nation, those that have a yellow beak and feet are not considered 

 pure ; while for the secret rites of Bona Dea, black ones are 

 chosen. There is also a dwarf 26 species of fowl, which is not 

 barren either ; a thing that is the case with no other kind of 

 bird. These dwarfs, however, rarely lay at any stated pe- 

 riods, and their incubation is productive of injury 27 to the eggs. 



26 Similar, probably, to our bantam. 



27 In consequence, probably, of their smallness, and want of sufficient 

 warmth. 



