magnanimity do these ill-furnished mothers defend their eggs ! which, after all, perhaps, are mere wind or addle eggs, or not their own, or artificial eggs of chalk or ivory; it is still the same, they defend all with equal courage. It is truly a remarkable love which birds display for inert and lifeless eggs ; and their solicitude is repaid by no kind of advantage or enjoy- ment. Who does not wonder at the affection, or passion rather, of the clucking hen, which can only be extinguished by a drenching with cold water. In this state of her feeling she neglects everything, her wings droop, her feathers are un- pruned and ruffled, she wanders about restless and dissatisfied, disturbing other hens on their nests, seeking eggs everywhere, which she commences forthwith to incubate; nor will she be at peace until her desire has been gratified, until she has a brood to lead about with her, upon which she may expend her fer- vour, which she may cherish, feed, and defend. How pleasantly are we moved to laughter when we see the poor hen following to the water the supposititious brood of ducklings she has hatched, wandering restlessly round the pool, attempting to wade after them to her own imminent peril, and by her noises and various artifices striving to entice them back to the shore !
According to Aristotle, 1 barren eggs do not produce chicks because their fluids do not thicken under incubation, nor is the yelk or the white altered from its original constitution. But we shall revert to this subject in our general survey of gene- ration.
Our housewives, that they may distinguish the eggs that are addled from those that will produce chicks, take them from the fourteenth to the sixteenth day of the incubation, and drop them softly into tepid water, when the spoilt ones sink, whilst the fruitful ones swim. If the included chick be well forward, and moves about with alacrity, the egg not only rolls over but even dances in the water. And if you apply the egg to your ear for several days before the hatching, you may hear the chick within kicking, scratching, and even chirping. When the hen that is sitting hears these noises, she turns the eggs and lays them otherwise than they were, until the chicks, get- ting into a comfortable position, become quiet; even as watchful
1 Hist. Anim. lib. vi, cap. 2.
