THE OOLOGIST. 



,01 



How a Bird Gets Out of Its Shell. 



TT TE notice that the leading poultry jour- 

 ' ' nals have, of late, made a specialty 

 of the question concerning the way in which 

 a chick makes its exit from the shell. 

 Writers are at variance and rigorously up- 

 hold their opinions as being right. As it 

 is an interesting question, and applicable to 

 all birds, we will make a few extracts from 

 two or three authors. 



Mr. R. J. Dodge from observations on 

 artificial incubation, states that "on the 

 extremity of the chicken's upper bill, a small 

 horny point is formed, with which the chick 

 literally bores through the shell. 



'■'■This horny j^oint soon d^'ops off the bill, 

 which shows that it was made for that ex- 

 press jmrpose, and for no other, notwith- 

 standing DarAvin's development theory. Mr. 

 Wolff said there is no such thing as piicking 

 a hole through the shell, as every atom of 

 space is filled, or crammed so fidl that it is 

 impossible for a chick to strike a blow with 

 his bill. After a hole has been bored 

 through the shell, so that the chick can in- 

 hale, air, its body expands and bursts the 

 shell asunder. The bill of a chick will al- 

 ways be found near the middle of the shell. 

 Hence, as a hole at that point weakens the 

 ihelll^the fracture will be made, each way, 

 'fie hole." 



is much doubted by Mr. Marot of 

 ild, who, if not right in his asser- 

 ^as set forth a very plain statement 

 of the facts that have come under his ob- 

 servation. He writes as follows in regard 

 to the above : 



" Now^, I very much doubt if either of 

 these gentlemen have handled a pipped egg, 

 or examined into the matter closely. * * 



"They certainly never found a hole bor- 

 ed through an egg. A chic^cen, for to drill, 

 would need a good tool, with good hard an- 

 gles, which cannot be found an a chick's bill. 



" Then, too, the act of drilling would ne- 

 cessitate the turning of the chick's head, and 

 the body would have to turn too, or the neck 

 would suffer the same as it does when the 



cook holds the liead still and moves the body 

 around. This could not take place, for the 

 body at the rear is connected by small cords 

 to the membrane of the shell, and these are 

 not severed until the chick breaks them by 

 forcing itself from the shell. 



' ' The head of the chick is formed be- 

 tween the body and left wing, and the point 

 of the bill one-eighth of an irtch from the 

 shell ; it is nearest to the large end of the 

 shell, and to break the shell, needs only to 

 be driven forward, — the hard point spoken 

 of by Mr. Dodge acting as the poll of a ham- 

 mer, and fi'acturing the shell ; then the ex- 

 pansion of the chick readily disrupts it, if 

 the lining membrane be not too dry or 

 tough to tear. 



"* * * Notwithstanding the assertion 

 of Mr. Wolff, that every atom of space is 

 filled or crammed, the inquisitive will find, 

 on examination, that, at the time of the pip- 

 ing of the shell, the air chamber is nearly 

 three times as large as it is in the fresh egg ; 

 and if the egg Mere broken two or three 

 days before time of hatching, he would find 

 that the chick did not nearly fill the shell. 



" I have helped dozens of chicks from the 

 egg, and I never found a bored shell ; all 

 were fractured from a blow on the inside, 

 and some I found, where the shell was bro- 

 ken, but where the lining membrane I'e- 

 mained intact. One I found, in which a 

 piece of the shell, nearly three-sixteenths of 

 an inch square, had been entirely carried 

 away, but mostly the shell was simply frac- 

 tured, and the membrane torn. * * * 



" The head of the chick is, as I said, un- 

 der the left wing ; the neck is twisted e- 

 nough to admit of its laying so the beak 

 points forward. The left foot comes up to, 

 and the toes touch this wing ; the right 

 wing and leg are as in life, and it is the 

 growth of the chick and use of its legs that 

 finally sunder the shell. 



" From the position of the head, the on- 

 ly motion it is capable of is a forward one ; 

 and as the breast of the chick is compara- 

 tively flat, it has room enough to strike the 

 blow^ necessary to fracture its prison." 



TO BE CONTINUED. 



