96 THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 



Ovid's black swan, a rare bird. But in many broods, 

 the cockerels bear a proportion of at least one third, 

 sometimes two thirds ; especially in those hatched dur- 

 ing winter or in unfavorable seasons ; the immediate 

 cause being, doubtless, that the eggs producing the 

 robuster sex possess a stronger vitality; the more re- 

 mote cause being the same wise law of Providence, 

 through which, in the human race, more males are 

 born into the world than females, to meet the wear and 

 tear of war, labor, and accident. 



In short, the " bubble theory" is properly described 

 by its name ; and, it is believed, there is no known 

 means of determining beforehand the sex of fowls, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, that cocks may be more likely to issue 

 from large eggs, and hens from small ones. Know- 

 ing, however, that the eggs of each hen may be recog- 

 nised, we have thus the means of propagating from 

 those parents the race of which we deem most desirable 

 to continue. 



Horace, Columella, and Pliny had the same notions 

 respecting the shape of eggs as are current now, but 

 they applied them to eating, rather than hatching pur- 

 poses. The long eggs were better-tasted, according to 

 them, because they contained cocks. Those which are 

 laid round, according to Pliny, produce a female ; the 

 rest, a male. 



Again, Doctor Philip Francis quaintly says, after 

 Horace 



" Long be your eggs, far sweeter than the round, 

 Cock eggs they are, more nourishing and sound.'* 



The popular notion now is, that eggs with buff and 

 brownish shells have a higher flavor, and are more 

 nutritious, than those which the shells are white. Be 

 this as it may, the finest'are those having small, bright- 

 orange yolks, like those of the Bantam and game breeds ; 

 but large eggs, like those of the Polands and Spanish 

 fowls, often have pale yolks, with but little flavor. 

 Aristotle's opinion is exactly the reverse of that of the 

 Romans. He says that " long and sharp eggs are 

 females, but that those that are spherical, and have a 



