138 



HABITS OF BIRDS. 



Transverse section and perspective elevation of an Egyptian Egg-oven. 



The number of ovens dispersed in the several dis- 

 tricts of Egypt has been estimated at 386 ; and this 

 number can never be either increased or diminished 

 without the circumstance being known, as it is indis- 

 pensable for each mamal to be managed by a Ber- 

 mean, none of whom are permitted to practise 

 their art without a certified licence from the Aga 

 of Berme, who receives ten crowns for each licence. 

 If, then, we take into account that six or eight broods 

 are annually hatched in each oven, and that each 

 brood consists of from 40,000 to 80,000, we may 

 conclude that the gross number of chickens which 

 are every year hatched in Egypt amounts to nearly 

 100,000,000. They lay their account with losing 

 about a third of all the eggs put into the ovens. 

 The Bermean, indeed, guarantees only two-thirds of 

 the eggs with which he is entrusted by the undertaker, 

 so that out of 45,000 eggs he is obliged to return 

 no more than 30,000 chickens. If he succeeds in 

 hatching these the overplus becomes his perquisite, 

 which he adds to the sum of thirty or forty crowns, 

 besides his board, that is paid him for his six months' 

 work. 



Proceeding upon the mistaken account of the 

 Egyptian method of hatching, given by Aristotle and 

 Diodorus, M. Reaumur tried a number of ingenious 



