BOOK VIII. V. 11-15 



it into the nest-boxes, making the nest hollow so that 

 the eggs may not roll out and fall when the hens fly 

 in or leap down. Very many people also lay a little 12 

 grass under the litter in the nest-boxes and small 

 branches of bay and also fasten underneath heads of 

 garlic with iron nails, all of which things are regarded 

 as preservatives against thunder by which the eggs 

 are spoilt and the half-formed chickens killed before 

 they can reach complete perfection in all their parts. 

 The man who places the eggs is careful not to place 13 

 them one by one in the nest-box by hand, but should 

 collect the complete number in a wooden basin and 

 gently pour the whole clutch into the nest ready 

 prepared. Food must be placed near the hens when 14 

 they are sitting, so that, being well satisfied, they 

 may be more eager to remain on their nests and may 

 not wander too far away and let the eggs grow cold. 

 Though the hens themselves turn the eggs with their 

 feet, the keeper of the poultry, when the hens have 

 leaped down, should go round and turn the eggs by 

 hand, so that they may easily be quickened, receiving 

 heat equally all over, and also that he may remove 

 any eggs which have been damaged or broken by the 

 hen's claws. After doing this for eighteen days, on 

 the nineteenth he should look and see whether the 

 chickens have broken through the eggs with their 

 little beaks and listen whether they are peeping; 

 for often, because of the thickness of the shells, they 

 cannot break their way out. He will, therefore, 15 

 have to remove with his hand the chickens which are 

 stuck in the shell and put them under their mother 

 to be kept warm, and he should do this for not more 

 than three days, for after the twenty-first day the 

 eggs which are silent have no living creature in them 



349 



