THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 95 



interests herself in the matter, will tell you with pre- 

 cision, in looking over her stores, " this egg was laid by 

 such a hen," a favorite perhaps ; " this one by such 

 another;" and it would be possible that she should go 

 on so throughout the whole flock of poultry. Of course, 

 the greater the number kept, the greater becomes the 

 difficulty in learning the precise marks of each. If 

 four dozen eggs, laid by no more than four different 

 hens, were put at random on a table, the chances are 

 that it would be as easy to sort them as the four suits 

 in a pack of cards. 



It has been copied and re-copied from quarto to 

 octavo, through duodecimo and pamphlet, that " small, 

 round eggs produce female, and long pointed ones male 

 chicks." Now I assert that the hen which lays one 

 round egg, will continue to lay all her eggs round ; and 

 the hen that lays one oblong, will lay all oblong. Con- 

 sequently, one hen would be the unceasing mother of 

 cocks, another must remain the perpetual, producer of 

 pullets ; which is absurd, as daily experience proves. 

 Every poultry maid knows that when a hen steals a 

 nest, and hatches her own eggs only, the brood she 

 brings home contains a fair proportion of either sex. 



There is nothing so instructive as a " case," whether 

 in law, physic, or poultry-raising. Here is an experi- 

 ment in point. An old lady, whose fowls were all 

 white, gave Mr. Dixon, of England, a small globular 

 egg, as round as a ball, which was added to a clutch of 

 speckled Dorkings. The result was, the due number of 

 Dorkings, and one white cockerel, which he kept till it 

 began to crow. It ought to have been a pullet, accord- 

 ing to the old stereotyped rule. 



Another supposed test is the position of the air bag 

 at the blunt end of the shell. We are told that " if it 

 be a little on one side, it will produce a hen ; if this 

 vacuity be exactly in the centre, it will produce a 

 cock." But, take a basket of eggs, examine them as 

 directed, by holding them between your eye and a 

 candle, and you will find very few indeed in which you 

 can say that the air bubble is exactly concentric with 

 the axis of the egg. A cock ought thus to be, like 



