A POULTRY COMPENDIUM. 29 



can be made out of fence rails. The yolks or ova grow- 

 in a ■ cluster on the spine, and pass through a fold of 

 soft skin between the lungs and the kidneys. When the 

 yolk is matured, it drops into the mouth of a funnel- 

 shaped duct, fifteen or twenty inches long, made up of 

 three divisions, each one terminating in an elbow. The 

 yolk makes three revolutions, in passing through the first 

 of these divisions, and gathers to itself three layers of 

 the white, in much the same way as a snowball gathers 

 layers of snow when rolled over and over. The second 

 division moves the partially formed egg forward with a 

 rotary motion, thus giving it a finished shape, and adds 

 the enclosing membrane. The third division completes 

 the work by adding the shell, colored to suit the breed. 

 The egg is fertilized by the influence of the male, which 

 passes through a small duct along the spine to the clus- 

 tering ova. 



We have the egg now, but our curiosity is not satis- 

 fied, and we cry out. 



Explain to me, if this you may, 



How life lies hid within the shell ; ■ 



How warmth shall bring some future day 

 This life to light, I pray thee tell. 

 Unfold, O, Sage, the mystery 

 Ensphered within an egg may be. 

 And teach me how from yolk and white 

 The downy chick is formed aright. 



And the Sage replies, '"The chick is formed entirely 

 from the white, and here we see the use of the three 

 revolutions, in the first division. The first layer forms 

 the bone and sinew, the second the flesh, the third the 



