SALE OF EGGS. Ill 



selves pui'loiii the eggs ;iiid sell tlieiu to tlie dealers, irinn 

 wliom they are perhaps repurchased liy the owner of the very 

 estate from whence they were abstracted. As aa example of 

 the mode in which these frauds are per|)etrated, I may 

 adduce the following example, furnislied by a corres|)oiident : 

 " On a small estate in Sussex there was a, pheasantry with 

 about seventy-five birds, and when the laying commenced, the 

 eggs were taken up carefully t^vo or tjirec times a day; the 

 kecjier had these eggs (jut as he got the hens reatly to sit, 

 wdiicli was three or four times a •week, as a very large 

 uumloer of hens were kept. A Ijook was kept, in which were 

 entered the eggs laid each day, tlie eggs given out being 

 also entered in a second column, and the number of birds 

 hatched in a third ; and the keeper was directed to preserve 

 all the eggs not hatched in- bad, so that they might be adiled 

 to the number of birds, and the tolal of Ijirils liatche(l ^lud 

 l)a,d eggs compared with the eggs laid. The lirst ten or 

 twelve hens brought ciut g(.)od broods of from thirteen to 

 seventeen birds each. Afterwards they decreased, and iu 

 manv cases there were only three, and even as low as one 

 bird in a brood. The eggs were never more than a, ihiy or 

 tw(j old wlien lii'st sat upon, we had often liens waiting for 

 the eggs, and everything was unjst favourable for a. large 

 I'eturu of birds. At this time some suspicinu wa^ entertained, 

 and for a time the keeper was im^'e closely Icxjked after, 

 when the broods at once came up to twelve and fourteen 

 birds. But, uiifortunately, the same watchful care was not 

 continued, and at the end of the season it was found tha,t he 

 was short of u[)\vards of seven hundn.Ml eggs, and thnt he had 

 sold npwards of thirty-live ]:iounds' worth. The sitting- 

 house was a hrst-rate one b)r the purpose — large, roomy, and 

 drv. The keejier's plan was to keep back a portion of good 

 eggs out of each setting, and substitute bad ones in their 

 place. 1 am very far indeed from .'-ayiiig that this is a 

 common occurrence ; for 1 am glad to say that mo^t keepers 

 are a-- anxious about their charges as their employers." 



