CHALK-LIKE EGGS. 187 



be scraped off with a knife, the usual white of 

 the shell appearing when it was so treated. 



Yet there are also several families belonging to 

 the same division of birds, the texture of whose egg- 

 shells is rough and chalky. The egg of the guille- 

 mot presents the appearance of a lump of chalk, 

 variegated, however, oftentimes with the most 

 beautiful colours. The single great egg of the 

 great auk is so porous-looking as to resemble a mass 

 of unglazed porcelain. Those of the cormorant 

 consist of two layers of calcareous substance, 

 an outer layer which is soft and white, and may 

 be scraped off with a knife, and an inner more 

 compact layer, revealed in so doing, and of a blue- 

 ish white. The single egg of the gannet is con- 

 structed in the same manner, of a double calcareous 

 shell, the outer soft, and often marked with the 

 impressions of scratches by rubbing against the 

 material on which it lies, and the inner is a harder 

 case, or the shell proper. The egg of the albatross 

 is rough, like a fine-grained sandstone. 



The texture of the smaller birds among the 

 perching divisions, (Insessores,) is often delicate 

 and beautiful to a high degree. The eggs of 

 the kingfisher are like little white rounded oval 



