FOR INCUBATION. 125 



round my farm-yard, and found a fresh nest, in a calves' stage, 

 with one egg in it. On taking it up, my servant said, ' Here 

 is something curious/ and I observed that the Egg was evi- 

 dently double, and that a small portion of the large end of the 

 shell was soft, and that, from the centre of the soft part, a 

 membranous substance was protruding, looking like a dried- 

 up umbilical cord. I opened the egg carefully, and found 

 that this cord was attached to an t)val sac within, of a dark 

 colour, filling half the Egg, and that below this there was a 

 perfect yolk. I took out this sac, with the cord attached to 

 it, entire, and put it at once into spirits of wine. My surgeon, 

 who is quite a naturalist and a very scientific man, was much 

 interested with it. His impression was, that the sac contained 

 a chick, and that incubation had been going on in the cloaca 

 of the mother."^. W. 



As a tail-piece to this chapter, may be mentioned the popular 

 idea that Eggs are formed in clusters of three in the ovary of 

 the Hen ; I mentioned this, per letter, to David Taggart, Esq., 

 of Northumberland, Pa., who is remarkably observant of every 

 thing connected with this subject, and he very kindly and 

 promptly replied to my inquiry as follows : 



" It may be that Eggs are formed in the ovary in clusters 

 of three, but I am, very certain they are not laid so. A Hen 

 is just as apt to lay 2, or 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, or 11, in as many days, 

 as 3, 6 or 9. I will prove it, by giving in figures the laying 

 of one of my favourites, this season, up to the time of sitting 

 and afterwards. She commenced in January, and this will 

 account for the slow laying at first 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 

 6, 7, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 11, 102; and then in this 

 fashion after giving up her chickens 2, 3, 7, 5 (to be con 

 tinued). And let me add, she has never missed two successive 

 days. You will wonder at the minuteness of my observations, 

 but they are nevertheless mathematically correct and reliable/' 



11* 



