BY i). EMBLETON, M.I). 49 



though they have a greener white (albumen) than those of 

 Ducks, and thus excite the prejudice of those who have had 

 no experience of them, are in the greatest request among epi- 

 cures, and in the London market bring a high price. 



The eggs indeed of almost all birds are edible and wholesome. 



The bird-nesting schoolboy was often no bad judge of the edi- 

 ble quality and savour of birds' eggs in general ; for, in his hun- 

 gry quests by hill and dale, by wood and field, he was obliged 

 to suck them raw, delighting most in the sweet savour of the 

 white egg of the cushat which could often be seen by him through 

 the thin nest as he eagerly peered through the branches of the 

 pine tree. 



^ow, however, the new laws for the protection of sea and land 

 birds have almost put an end to his wanderings and his oolo- 

 gical experiences, and have unfortunately interfered not a little 

 with the prosecution of the study of the subjects of this paper. 



It is interesting to read what was said in old times about eggs 

 as articles of diet. Aristotle,'^' and after him Pliny, f relates that 

 ''the large sharp eggs are males; those which are round, and 

 circular at the sharp end, are females." Horace J gives, through 

 Catius, the following directions for choosing eggs for the table : 

 " Longa quibus facies ovis erit, ilia memento 

 Ut succi melioris, et ut magis alba rotimdis 

 Ponere ; namque marem cohibent callosa vitellum.'" 

 And Columella is of the same opinion as Horace. 



I do not know whether, now-a-days, long eggs are considered 

 whiter than round ones, or whether the former always contain 

 males and the latter females. It is probable, however, that the 

 largest eggs, as a rule, arc males, the cock being a larger bird 

 than the hen ; but it has been observed that in the Order Rapaces, 

 in which the female is larger than tlie male, the largest eggs 

 produce females. § 



* Book VI., Chap. III. t Lib. X., Cap. LIII. % Book II., Satire IV. 



§ My nephew, Mr. H. C. Emhleton, informs me that " if you hohl the round end of an 

 egg to a lighted candle in a dark room you will observe the air-cavity to be sometimos 

 exactly at the end and sometimes on one side of the end. Those eggs that have the air- 

 cavity at the end arc female, and those with the air-cavity on the side arc male eggs. 

 I gathered this information from the Journal of Horticulture about two years ago. Wo 

 always act on this information in selecting- our eggs for setting, and seldom tind it to 

 fall." 



F 



