244 EGGS. [CHAP. i. 



breed (except so rarely that the exception confirms the 

 rule) in confinement, the race never has been and never 

 can be truly domesticated. For, without taking into 

 consideration any unsuitability of climate, it is retained 

 alive in our public and private menageries almost en- 

 tirely by successive importations from South America ; 

 and if the stock could not be renewed from that source, 

 but depended upon its propagation here for a continued 

 existence, it would soon altogether become extinct and 

 unseen in Great Britain. 



The eggs of the Cracida3 seem to be large in propor- 

 tion to the size of the bird, and whitish or light cream- 

 coloured, with a slightly granulated surface. I am in- 

 debted to the Earl of Derby for the loan of eggs of the 

 Crax globicera and Yarrellii. The former measures 

 9| inches round its long circumference, and 8^ inches 

 round the middle, being a very short oval : the latter 

 is 7j inches round lengthwise, and 6 round the 

 middle. 



The Chick figured at the head of this chapter is a 

 Curassow, species not certain. 



