Ornithology. 75 



which nature has drawn, and which the animal by instinct 

 feels. We conceive the production of a second lot of eggs 

 to be an extraordinary exertion of nature ; a wonderful proof 

 of the affection of the all-wise Creator for the preservation 

 and continuation of his creatures, and the resources he has 

 furnished some animals with, in case of necessity, to prevent 

 the total extinction of the species. It is but few birds, if any, 

 that would produce a second lot of eggs in the same season 

 if unmolested ; but if their nests are destroyed, it is probable 

 three or four separate lots may be protruded. 



We have never been able to discover in the earliest breed- 

 ers of birds, the production of a second brood after the first 

 has been brought to maturity. Their attention to their 

 young continues long after they leave the nest. The great 

 exertion to collect food for so many must exhaust the animal 

 spirits, to recruit which is a work of time ; so that the season 

 is too far advanced for a second production. The secondary 

 eggs being brought forward is not effected by the will of the 

 bird, but is caused by the dictates of nature, the impulse of 

 love. 



The extraordinary and rapid growth is also worthy of notice. 

 We before observed, there is a line drawn by nature to pre- 

 vent more than a certain quantity of eggs, peculiar to each 

 species, being fecundated at once ; otherwise a bird in one 

 season might produce all the eggs she possessed, and after- 

 wards become useless in propagation. 



But notwithstanding only a portion of the ovaries are im- 

 pregnated at the same time, yet the stimulus to love consider- 

 ably increases the size of all the eggs of the ovarium. When 

 the stimulus ceases, be it from what cause it may, the organic 

 particles excite love by distending those parts necessary for 

 production ; so, on the contrary, the want of a sufficient quan- 

 tity reduces them to their primitive state. It seems absolutely 

 necessary that a dilation of the ovaries should take place before 

 they can be fecundated; and that, by the law of nature, only 

 a certain number should be sufficiently large to be impreg- 

 nated at the same time ; and that no others can possibly receive 

 the male stimulus till after the first set are produced. A 

 superabundance of organic particles is cause sufficient to 

 separate an egg from the ovarium without male contact. It 

 is possible a bird, in its natural state, may lay an egg unim- 

 pregnated, which may account for addled eggs being found 

 in nests. Birds have been found sitting on eggs perfectly 

 dried up. This also seems to prove that birds do not knov^ 

 the necessary time of incubation. 



