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CHAPTER III. 



ON EGGS : THEIR COLOUR, FORM, AND SEX. 



" Do you see that the resemblance of one egg with another has passed into a pro- 

 verb? X"et, granting this to be true, I have heard that there were in Delos many 

 people who used to keep a number of Hens for the sake of profit; and when they in- 

 spected their Eggs, were in the habit of pronouncing which lien had laid that par- 

 ticular one." CICERO, II. -Academicarum. 



THE Deliaci, it is clear, knew something about (< Eyes and 

 no Eyes, or the Art of Seeing " for Eggs are popularly sup- 

 posed to be so much alike, that what can be said about one 

 Egg is thought applicable to every other laid by the same spe- 

 cies of bird the common Hen for example ; but there is nearly 

 as much distinguishable difference between the units in every 

 egg-basket which is carried to market, as there is between the 

 faces in a crowd of men, or the hounds in a pack. To every 

 Hen belongs an individual peculiarity in the form, colour, and 

 size of the Egg she lays, which never changes during her whole 

 lifetime, so long as she remains in health, and which is as well 

 known to those who are in the habit of taking her produce, as 

 the handwriting of their nearest acquaintance. Some Hens 

 lay smooth, cream-coloured Eggs, others rough, chalky, granu- 

 lated ones : there is the buff, the snow-white, the spherical, 

 the oval, the pear-shaped, and the emphatically Egg-shaped 

 Egg. A farmer's wife who interests herself in the matter, will 

 tell you with precision, in looking over her stores, " this Egg 

 was laid by such a Hen" a favourite, perhaps " this one by 



