with blankets, the animal heat then being depended 

 upon to finish the hatching. The natives along 

 the coast who live on house boats or rafts get the 

 eggs hatched at the hatching house and raise the 

 ducks literally on the water. 



CROCODILE EGGS. 



Even if he does commit fowl deeds on the Nile, 

 the crocodile cannot be classed with poultry. Still 

 it may interest many of our readers to know that it 

 lays an egg smaller than a goose egg, the average 

 size being three inches long and two inches in 

 diameter, equally large at both ends, and very 

 similar in shape to a snake egg. They are laid in 

 the sand and hatched by the sun. On breaking 

 the shell of an egg well advanced in incubation, 

 you will find the young " croc " doubled up with 

 his tail to his nose. 



164 



