154 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



remarkable number of exceptions on the opposite 

 side. The common pheasant measures exclusive 

 of the tail, which is sometimes two feet long a foot 

 in length, yet this bird lays a larger number of 

 eggs than the little wren, only three or four inches 

 long; the latter, as has just been related, depositing 

 seven or eight eggs ; while the pheasant lays from 

 ten to fourteen. The bean-goose, measuring in 

 extreme length thirty-four inches, lays six or 

 seven very large eggs; while the song-thrush, which 

 is doubtless a small bird by its side, lays but four, 

 sometimes five eggs. The partridge, again, cannot 

 be reckoned, comparing it with the skylark, a 

 small bird; yet its number of eggs sometimes 

 amounts to twenty about the largest number de- 

 posited by any bird, while the skylark frequently 

 only lays three eggs. 



Several species of the petrels, the gannets, and 

 the guillemots, present us with instances in which 

 only one egg is laid. The whole length of a fine 

 specimen of a petrel is about seven inches, the 

 whole length of the gannet is about thirty-five 

 inches, that of the guillemot about eighteen inches. 

 The golden eagle is a larger bird than either of 

 these, and a monster by the side of a petrel ; yet, 



