SURFACE OF EGGS. 183 



by several distinguished naturalists to be of some 

 importance, and in many instances to form a cer- 

 tain character by which the family to which they 

 belong may be known. Into this subject it 

 becomes us not to enter ; but it may be instructive 

 to make a few general observations upon the eggs 

 of a few families of birds, intended to show the 

 singular diversities of the texture of the shell 

 displayed in them. 



On close examination, it is seen that the eggs of 

 the common domestic fowl are furnished with a 

 shell, which in many instances appears dotted over 

 with minute points, like the depressions caused by 

 the point of a pin. In those of the guinea-fowl 

 this appearance is still more developed, giving the 

 egg a singularly spotted look. The eggs of the 

 Turkey present somewhat of a similar aspect. 

 Those of the pigeon, on the contrary, are smooth, 

 glittering, and to the eye free from those pin- 

 point depressions; while those of the ostrich 

 exhibit them of all others the most distinctly. 

 The texture of this vast egg is quite peculiar; from 

 its density and colour it almost resembles a bony 

 structure. Those to whom the aspect of the 

 human skull is familiar, when denuded of its cover- 



