INCUBATION 43 



wall yields. For the most vigorous it takes several 

 hours. Oh, joy! the shell is broken; there is the 

 young chicken's little head, and all yellow velvety 

 down, and still wet with the moisture of the egg. 

 The mother comes to its aid and completes its 

 deliverance; others, weaker or less skilful, take 

 twenty-four hours of painful effort to free them- 

 selves. Some even exhaust themselves in the un- 

 dertaking and perish miserably in the egg without 

 succeeding in breaking the shell. " 



" Those are the very ones the mother ought to 

 help," said Jules. 



' ' She would be careful not to, for fear of a worse 

 accident than a difficult birth. How could she di- 

 rect her blows accurately enough not to wound the 

 tender little chicken just inside the shell? The 

 slightest false move would cause a wound, and at so 

 tender an age any wound is death. We ourselves, 

 with all the dexterity and care possible, could not, 

 without danger, help the bird in distress ; it can be 

 tried as a last resort, but the chance of success is 

 very small. The young chicken is the only one 

 capable of carrying through this delicate deliverance 

 if strength does not fail it. The hen knows this 

 wonderfully well, and so does not interfere except to 

 finish freeing the prisoner when half out of its shell. 

 Let us hope that things will turn out as we wish, and 

 that on the twenty-first day the whole family may 

 be warmed under the mother's wings without mortal 

 accident at the moment of hatching. 



"From the instant of leaving the shell the young 



