INCUBATION. 189 



Rev. Mr. Dickson lias given a very correct statement of the 

 different degrees of development, which I annex : 



At the end of the second day it assumes the form of a horse-shoe, 

 but no red blood as yet is seen. 



At the fiftieth hour, two vesicles of blood, the rudiments of the 

 heart, may be distinguished, one resembling a noose folded down on 

 itself, and pulsating distinctly. 



At the end of seventy hours, the wings may be seen ; and, in the 

 head, the brain and the bill, in form of bubbles. 



Towards the end of the fourth day, the heart is more completely 

 formed ; and, on the fifth day, the liver is observable. 



At the end of a hundred and thirty hours, the first voluntary motion 

 may be observed ; in seven hours more, the lungs and stomach appear; 

 and, in four hours after this, the intestines, the loins, and the upper 

 jaw. 



At the end of the one hundred and forty-fourth hour, two drops of 

 blood are observable in the heart, which is also further developed. 



On the seventh day, the brain exhibits some consistence. 



At the hundred and ninetieth hour, the bill opens, and the muscular 

 flesh appears on the breast ; in four hours more, the breast-bone is 

 seen, and, in six hours after this, the ribs may be observed forming 

 from the back. 



At the end of two hundred and thirty-six hours, the bill assumes a 

 green color, and, if the chick be taken out of the egg, it will visibly 

 move. 



At two hundred and sixty-four hours, the eyes appear; at two 

 hundred and eighty-eight hours, the ribs are perfect ; and at three 

 hundred and thirty-one hours, the spleen approaches near to the 

 stomach, and the lungs to the chest. 



At the end of three hundred and fifty-five hours, the bill frequently 

 opens and shuts. 



At the end of the eighteenth day, the first cry of the chicken is 

 heard ; and it gradually acquires more strength, till it is enabled, as 

 we shall presently see, to release itself from confinement. 



Some people, upon the eleventh or twelfth day, examine the eggs 

 which have been sitten upon, to pick out the bad ones. "With this 

 view, they place the eggs on a drum, or between the hands, in the 

 sunshine, and observe the shadow. If this wavers, by the motion of 

 the chick, the eggs are good ; if the shadow shows no motion, they 

 throw them away. 



At the expiration of six or eight days after setting a hen, 

 the addled eggs may be known by holding each up, encircled 

 by your hand, and one end held in close contact with the eye, 

 while the other is held up in the range of the sun, the addled 

 ones appearing transparent, and the fertile eggs quite black. 

 This is a never failing test, and one that should always be 

 resorted to, rather than run the risk of having your hens waste 

 their time over unproductive eggs. Two or more hens should 



