LAWS OF NUMBER. 153 



several naturalists, a larger number; the eagle 

 generally only two; the titmouse sometimes as 

 many as sixteen ; the vulture and the crane only 

 two. Were we to form a rule, therefore, upon 

 these instances alone, it would run, according to 

 the tenor of the above proposition, namely, that 

 small birds generally produce a greater number of 

 eggs than large birds. Running over the columns 

 given above, this rule appears to have somewhat 

 of a general application. The swan lays but three 

 eggs, the heron family also three or four, less fre- 

 quently six. Again, the red-breast lays six, the 

 stone-chat five or six, and the gold-crested wren 

 ten or eleven eggs. Let us now contrast the re- 

 spective sizes of these birds. The common white 

 swan (male) is from four feet eight inches to five 

 feet in length, and weighs about thirty pounds ; the 

 white stork measures three feet six or eight inches 

 in whole length. The whole length of the red- 

 breast is five inches and three quarters, that of the 

 stone-chat five inches and one quarter, and the 

 gold-crested wren only measures three inches 

 and a half. 



Yet, on a more careful review of the same facts 

 in figures, we are presented with at least an equally 



