CONCERNING EGGS 73 



but, on the other hand, those of birds sometimes 

 take a month or more to incubate. 



The following list of the incubation periods of 

 some of our well known British birds' eggs may 

 prove of interest. Our familiar house-sparrow 

 takes sixteen days to hatch her eggs ; the wren, 

 nineteen days ; the robin and hedge-sparrow, 

 seventeen days, as also does the greenfinch, 

 goldfinch, and chaffinch. The linnet sits for 

 eighteen days ; the starling for twenty days ; 

 the great-tit, the blue-tit, and the marsh-tit, for 

 twenty days ; and their near relative, the long- 

 tailed tit, for twenty-two days. The rook incubates 

 her eggs for twenty-seven days ; the water ouzel 

 or dipper, for twenty days ; while the peewit or 

 lapwing sits for nineteen days. The eggs of the 

 skylark take eighteen days to hatch ; those of the 

 goldcrest, twenty days ; those of the thrush, 

 nineteen days ; those of the sand-martin eighteen 

 days ; and those of the house-martin and swallow, 

 seventeen days. The grey wagtail and pied wagtail 

 sit for seventeen days ; and the yellow wagtail 

 for one day more ; while the chiffchaff, white- 

 throat, and willow wren sit for eleven days. The 

 jackdaw incubates her eggs for twenty- two days ; 

 the meadow and tree pipits, for eighteen days ; 

 as also does the yellow bunting or yellow-hammer. 

 The mute swan incubates for forty-two days ; the 

 snipe, for twenty days ; the ring dove, for eighteen 

 days ; the missel-thrush and the blackbird, for 

 twenty days ; and the spotted flycatcher and 

 redstart, for eighteen days. Wild ducks sit upon 



