536 
plint's katueal histoet. 
[Book X. 
her early youth of Tiberius Caesar, by l^ero, was particularly 
desirous that her offspring should be a son, and accordingly 
employed the following mode of divination, which was then 
much in use among young women : she carried an egg in her 
bosom, taking care, whenever she was obliged to put it down, 
to give it to her nurse to warm in her own, that there might 
be no interruption in the heat : it is stated that the result pro- 
mised by this mode of augury was not falsified. 
It was perhaps from this circumstance, that the modern in- 
vention took its rise, of placing eggs in a warm spot and cover- 
ing them with chaff, the heat being maintained by a moderate 
fire, while in the meantime a man is employed in turning them. 
Ey the adoption of this plan, the young, all of them, break 
the shell on a stated day. There is a story told of a breeder 
of poultry, of such remarkable skill, that on seeing an egg he 
could tell which hen had laid it. It is said also that when a 
hen has happened to die while sitting, the males have been seen 
to take her place in turns, and perform all the other duties of a 
brood-hen, taking care in the meantime to abstain from crow- 
ing. But the most remarkable thing of all, is the sight of a 
hen, beneath which ducks' eggs have been put and hatched. — 
At first, she is unable to quite recognize the brood as her own, 
while in her anxiety she gives utterance to her clucking as 
she doubtfully calls them ; then at last she will stand at the 
margin of tiie pond, uttering her laments, while the duck- 
lings, with Nature for their guide, are diving beneath the water. 
CHAP. 77. (56.) THE BEST XIKDS OE EOWLS. 
The breed of a fowl is judged of by the erectness of the 
crest, which is sometimes double, its black wings, reddish beak, 
and toes of unequal number, there being sometimes a fifth placed 
transversely above the other four. Eor the purposes of divi- 
nation, those that have a yellow beak and feet are not considered 
pure ; while for the secret rites of Bona Dea, black ones are 
chosen. There is also a dwarf species of fowl, which is not 
barren either ; a thing that is the case with no other kind of 
bird. These dwarfs, however, rarely lay at any stated pe- 
riods, and their incubation is productive of injury ^"^ to the eggs, 
26 Similar, probably, to our bantam. 
27 In consequence, probably, of tlieir smallness, and Avant of sufficient 
warmth. 
