160 LECTURE V. 



young are afterwards excluded. Tlie process 

 of the young in the Egg, from the time of its 

 first production to that of the complete forma- 

 tion of the bird, is extremely curious and in- 

 teresting, and may be found detailed with suf- 

 ficient exactness in the works of Malpighi, Buf- 

 fon, Monro, and many others. I shall only ob- 

 serve on this subject that the first appearance 

 of the young, as an organized body, begins to 

 be visible in six hours after the egg has been 

 placed in a proper degree of heat under the 

 parent animal*. 



The number of eggs is extremely various in 

 the different tribes of birds. 



Birds are divided by Linnaeus into six Or- 

 ders or Assortments, viz. 1. Accipitres or Pre- 

 dacious Birds, such as Vultures, Elagles, Hawks, 

 Ovv'ls, and some others. 



* A particular highly worthy of attention is, that the chick, 

 or young bird, when arrived at its full size, and ready for hatch- 

 ing-, is by nature provided with a small, hard, and calcareous 

 protuberance at the point or tip of the bill, by which it is enabled 

 the more readily to break the shell, and which falls off some 

 Lours after its hatching. So careful has Nature been, and so 

 accurately has every circumstance attending the process beea 

 foreseen and provided for ! 



