122 EGGS: THEIR PRESERVATION 



a case from Aristotle as such. However, his idea of twinning 

 in Hens evidently coincides with ours, in spite of his having 

 asserted that some fowls lay twice a day. "Double Eggs, 

 however, have two yolks, which sometimes, that they may not 

 be confounded, are separated by a thin interstice of the white; 

 and sometimes the two yolks are in contact with each other 

 without this interstice. There are, also, some Hens that bring 

 forth all their Eggs double, so that in these also, the above- 

 mentioned circumstance happens respecting the yolk. For a 

 certain Hen having brought forth eighteen double Eggs, dis- 

 closed a chicken from each, those Eggs excepted which were 

 unprolific. Two chickens also were disclo'sed from each of the 

 double Eggs, but one of the chickens was larger than the 

 other. But the last chicken that was disclosed was a monster/' 

 History of Animals, book vi., chap. iii. Taylor's Translation. 

 The following is a plausible, but by no means a convincing 

 case. "At Monklaw, near Jedburgh, there "was a Duck which 

 laid two Eggs in a day. The fact was proved by locking the 

 bird up, when one egg was found early in the morning and 

 another in the evening. This remarkable Duck was killed 

 by a servant ignorant of its virtues." Note to Whites Natural 

 History of Setbourne, Captain Brown's Edition, p. 291. Now 

 Mowbray says, " the Duck generally lays by night, or early 

 in the morning, seldom after ten o'clock, with the exception 

 of chilling and comfortless weather, when she will occasionally 

 .retain her Egg until mid-day or the afternoon." Suppose 

 then that the confined Duck, exercising her power of retaining 

 her Egg (a faculty often obstinately used by the Turkey-hen, 

 if it be desired to make her lay in other places than she 

 chooses) suppose the Duck had laid one, say at two in the 

 morning, and another at ten in the evening of the same day, 

 that could scarcely be called Claying two Eggs a day," unless 

 the confinement had continued, and the same productiveness 

 been manifested for several days in succession. It is here 



