CHAPTER III. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE EGG. 



Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores, 

 Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon 

 Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclosed 

 Their callow young. 



WE now approach a highly interesting, but ex- 

 tremely difficult part of the life of a bird. In 

 fact, the dawn and development of life in the 

 shell is the most delightful part of its history in 

 the eyes of the physiologist ; and it is to be hoped 

 that it will in some degree prove equally pleasing 

 to the reader of this book. In the fact that birds, 

 without an exception, are perpetuated in the world 

 by means of eggs, and not by bringing forth their 

 young alive, as is the case in the mammalia ; that 

 the eggs are carefully hidden from view generally, 

 and, in a large number of instances, are placed in 

 a beautiful receptacle prepared by the ingenuity 

 of the bird for their reception, we may see the 

 evident intention of the Creator, that they should 



