304 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



matter forward. He no sooner succeeds in this, 

 but his body lifts up the portion of the shell it 

 meets in its way. The chicken, by thus continu- 

 ing to push his body forward, and he repeats this 

 action several times, forces the foremost portion of 

 the shell to rise more and more. He at last tears 

 all the fastenings, or if any of them hold out, if 

 any part of the membrane refuses to break, it 

 becomes as to the portion of the shell, what a 

 hinge is to the cover of a pot, it is turned up 

 and supported by it, and so does not in any way 

 incumber the aperture necessary for the chicken to 

 come freely out at. And so the prison being 

 broken open, the chicken escapes into the world." 

 Generally the part of the broad end which is 

 here described as occasionally constituting a sort 

 of hinged door, lies by the side, or a little in front 

 of the egg. But it is sometimes placed in a very 

 singular position. Mr. Jesse alludes to this in the 

 case of the eggs of the partridge. He says : " It 

 is a curious fact, that when young partridges are 

 hatched and have left the nest, the two portions 

 of each shell will be found placed in each other; 

 and I believe that this is invariably the case. If 

 the old birds perform this operation, it is difficult 



