148 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



numerous ; and certainly the largest eggs propor- 

 tionately to the parent come from species with this 

 habit. The Guillemot, for instance, whose young 

 is as active as existence on a narrow shelf of rock 

 admits, lays an enormous egg, and this is surpassed 

 by the Kiwi, whose egg is so large that it is difficult 

 to see where the bird's internal organs go while 

 it is being carried, and the male bird, which alone 

 incubates, cannot cover it properly, but has to 

 lie across it. The Jack-Snipe, too, accomplishes 

 something like a record in laying four eggs so big 

 that they average over the inch in their widest 

 diameter, while the bird is not bigger than a Lark. 



The Raven, on the other hand, is remarkable, 

 even among nestling-fosterers, for the small size of 

 its eggs, which are hardly bigger than those of the 

 Carrion Crow, a bird hardly more than half its 

 size and of similar general habits. The Wren, true 

 to its original and self-assertive character, lays a 

 large sitting of relatively large eggs for its size. 

 It will be noted, however, that very small birds 

 do not lay the tiny eggs one might expect ; those 

 of Humming-birds, for instance, though among 

 them may naturally be found the smallest of all 

 eggs, are not proportionately so minute as one 

 might have supposed. 



There is evidently a limit to the smallness of 

 eggs ; an experienced poultry-fancier told me not 

 long ago that this was the obstacle which faced the 

 bantam-breeder, for whenever an exceptionally 

 tiny pullet was reared, she was certain to succumb 



