€3 
PHASIANUS. 
mentions certain hens of Illyria, which laid fo often as 
thrice a-day; and it is probable that thefe were the fame 
with the Adriatic hens, of which he fpeaks in another 
place, and which were noted for their prolific quality. 
Some add, that there is a peculiar mode of feeding common 
hens, which gives them this prodigious fecundity. Heat 
is very favourable; hens well fed can be brought to lay 
in winter'by keeping thdm in a liable, where there is al¬ 
ways warm dung on which they can fit. 
As foon as an egg is laid it begins to perfpire, and lofes 
every day fotne grains of its weight by the evaporation of 
the more volatile juices: in proportion it thickens, 
hardens, and dries ; or it contracts an offenfive fmell,ancl 
becomes totally unfit for hatching. The art of long pre- 
lerving eggs confifts in checking the perfpiration, by co¬ 
vering the (hell completely with a coat of any kind of 
greafe Ihortly after it is laid. By this (ingle precaution 
we can preferve them for feveral months, and even years, 
in a condition for eating, and capable of being batched, 
and, in a word, retaining all the properties of frelli eggs. 
The Journal Ecor.omique for the month of March, 175s, 
mentions three eggs, fit for eating, found in Italy, in the 
heart of a wall built 300 years ago. This fa ft is the more 
incredible, as a coat of mortar would not be fufficient to 
preferve an egg; and, as the thickell walls dry in every 
part, the tranfpirntion through the (hell would not be 
prevented. The inhabitants of Tonquin keep them in a 
kind- of p.ifte made of lifted allies and brine ; other In¬ 
dians in oil and varnifn ; but greafe is much better for 
preferving eggs that are to be hatched, becaufe it can be 
more ealily feparated than the varnilh, and the coating 
snuli be completely detached in order that the incubation 
fucceed; for whatever obftrufts the perfpiration prevents 
alfo the development of the chick. 
We have (aid, that the union of the cock was neceffury 
to the fecundation of the eggs ; and this faft is founded 
on long and conllant experience. But the details of this 
aft, fo effentia! in the hiltory of animals, have been too 
(lightly obferved. It is indeed known, that the male.organ 
is double, and is only the two paps which terminate the 
Ipermatic veffels, where they are inferted in the gut; that 
the female vulva is placed over the anus, and not under 
as in the quadrupeds: that he advances to his female 
with an obiique quickened pace, dropping his wings, like 
the turkey, and even partly fpreading his tail, uttering a 
certain expreffive murmur, with a trembling motion, and 
with all the figns of ardent defire; that he darts upon the 
hen, who receives him, bending her legs, fquatting on the 
ground, and laying afide the two fans of feathers which 
compofe her tail; that then he feizes with his bill the 
tred or tuft on the head of the female, either by way of 
carelling her, or of keeping his balance; that be bends 
the bind part of bis body, where his double member is 
lodged, and applies it brilkly where the correfponding 
orifice is placed ; that this copulation lads the (horter 
time the eftener it is repeated, and that the cock feems to 
boalt of his performance by clapping bis wings, and by a 
kind of crowing of joy or viftory ; that he has tellicles, 
and that his feminal liquor is contained, like that of the 
quadrupeds, in fpermatic veffels. It is not jet known 
what mult be the precife condition of an egg in order to 
its fecundation, r.or to what didance the male influence 
can extend. In a word, notwithftanding the infinite 
number of experiments and obfervations that have been 
made on this fubject, we dill remain unacquainted with 
lome of the principal circumftances of the impregnation. 
A hen that has juft laid an egg is kindled with tranfports 
that are communicated to others which are only mere 
Ipeftators, and they all join in the repeated cackling 
hurlls of joy, either becaufe the Hidden ceflafion of the 
pains of delivery is always accompanied with a lively 
pleafure, or that the mother then anticipates all the de¬ 
lights of progeny. Whatever be the caufe, certain it is, 
that when flie has laid a certain portion of eggs, (lie deli¬ 
berately prepares to fit on them. It they be continually 
taken from her, (lie will perhaps lay twice or thrice as 
many, and become exhaufled by the mere excefs of fecun¬ 
dity. But the time at lad comes, when (he is driven by 
the force of inflinft to feek to hatch, and expreffes her 
wants by a particular fort of clucking, and by certain 
unambiguous motions and attitudes. II (lie cannot find 
her own eggs, Ihe will readily cover thole of any other 
hen, or thole of the female of any other fpecies, or even 
balls of (lone or chalk. She will continue dill to fit, after 
every thing is removed, and will wade herfelf in vain 
plaints and idle movements ; but a hen may be put od' 
the brooding by often dipping her poderiors in cold 
water. If flie is fuccefsfnl in her fearch, and finds eggs 
that are either real or refembling fuch in a retired and 
convenient fpot, (lie immediately feats herfelf on them, 
covers them with her wings, folters a genial warmth, and 
condantly changes them gently to heat all the parts 
equally. She is fo intent in her occupation, as to negleft 
food and drink; and yet is fo courageous and drong, 
that (lie will rife and fight men or animals that dare to 
approach her ned. It is impoflible to conceive how, with 
fo fcanty a fudenance as (lie takes, llie can, for twenty-one 
days, emit, condantly from her body, fuch intenfe heat 
as would raife Fahrenheit’s thermometer to P'S degrees. 
The effeft of incubation is confined merely to the de¬ 
velopment of the embryo of the chick, which, as we have 
already faid, exids already formed in the cicatricula of the 
fecundated egg. The following is nearly the order in 
which this development is made, or rather as it appears 
to the observer : at the end of five or fix hours, the head 
of the chick is didinftly feen joined to the dorfal .fpine, 
fwimming in the liquor, with which the (peck in the 
centreof the cicatricula is filled ; and towards the dole of 
the firll day, the head is already bent back by its enlarge¬ 
ment. On the fecond day are perceived the firfc traces 
of the vertebrae, which are like final! globules difpofed on 
the two (Ides of the middle of the fpine; the wings and 
umbilical veffels alfo begin toappear, didinguifned by their 
dull colour; the neck and bread are unfolded, and the 
head condantly increafes; the outlines of the eyes, and 
the three encircling coats, as well as the fpine and 'mem¬ 
branes, are now feen. The life of the foetus is decided ; 
the heart beats, and the blood circulates. On the third 
day, the whole is more didinft and expanded. It is re¬ 
markable, that the heart hangs out of the bread, and beats 
three times in fucceffion ; once, in receiving from the 
auricle the blood contained in the veins ; a fecond time, 
in difeharging it into the arteries; and a third time, in 
forcing it into the umbilical veffels; and this motion 
continues for twenty-four hours after the embryo has been 
feparated from the white of its egg. We alfo difcover the 
veins and arteries on the veficles of the brain, and the 
rudiments of the fpinal marrow beginning to extend 
along the vertebras; and we fee the whole foetus enve¬ 
loped in a part of the furrounding liquor which has ac¬ 
quired a greater confidence than the red. On the fourth 
day, the eyes are conliderably advanced; we can diftin- 
guilh the pupil, the cryltalline lens, and the vitreous 
humour. We alfo perceive in the head five veficles filled 
with a fluid which, approaching each other, and gradually 
coalefcing on the following days, form at lalt the brain 
inyeded with its coats. The wings grow, the thighs 
begin to appear, and the body to acquire bulk. On the 
fifth day the whole body is covered with an unftuous 
flelli ; the heart is confined by a very thin membrane, 
which fpreads over the ched; and the umbilical vellels 
rife out of the abdomen. The lixth day the fpinal marrow, 
being divided into two parts, continues to dretch along 
the trunk ; the liver, which was before whitilh, is now 
become of a dufky colour; the heart beats with its two 
ventricles; the body of the chick is covered with a (kin, 
and even the feathers begin to fprout. It is eafy, on the 
feventh day, to didinguilh the bill; the brain, the wing?, 
the thighs, and the legs, have acquired their perfect lhape ; 
the two ^ventricles ol the heart appear like two Bubbles, 
contiguous 
