THE I DOMESTIC FOWL. 99 



shelled eggs, like those of geese, Guinea fowl, &c., 

 will retain life longer than thin-shelled ones, as those 

 of hens and ducks. 



In the meanwhile, air should be excluded from the 

 eggs as much as possible ; it is best to set them on 

 end, and not to suffer them to lie and roll on the side. 

 Dry sand or hard- wood sawdust, (not pine, on account 

 of the turpentine,) is the best packing. But when 

 choice eggs are expected, it is more prudent to have 

 a hen waiting for them than to let them wait for her. 

 A good sitter may be amused for two or three, weeks 

 with a few. addled eggs, and so be ready to take charge 

 of those of value immediately upon their arrival. 



Eggs sent any distance to be hatched, should be 

 tightly inclosed in a cork or wooden box, and arranged 

 so as neither to touch each other, nor the sides of the 

 box. Mr. Cantelo, in his little pamphlet, has recom- 

 mended oats as a packing, and no doubt they form an 

 excellent vehicle, taking little time to pack, filling all 

 interstices, and moreover being useful at the journey's 

 end. The eggs should be shaken as little as possible, 

 for fear of rupturing the ligaments by which the yolk 

 is suspended in the centre of the egg, and mixing the 

 true strata of albumen surrounding it and letting the 

 yolk loose. Nor should they be suffered to come in 

 contact with any greasy substance that would close 

 the pores of the shell, so as to exclude the air from the 

 chick. 



THE STRUCTURE OF EGGS. 



UPON opening, after death, the body of a laying hen, 

 a cluster of eggs, or rather the rudiments of eggs, may 

 be observed, from twenty to a hundred or more, from 

 the size of a pin's head to that of a boy's marble, 

 according to the different stages of their growth. This 

 batch of rudimental eggs, or egg cluster, is termed by 

 anatomists the ovarium^ and the rudimental eggs 

 themselves are called ova. 



It is necessary to observe here, that a rudimental egg, 

 or ovum, has no shell nor white, which are acquired in 



