Eggs vary in colour according to their kind. Some eggs
are white, as those of the pigeon and of the partridge; others are
yellowish, as the eggs of marsh birds; in some cases the eggs are
mottled, as the eggs of the guinea-fowl and the pheasant; while the
eggs of the kestrel are red, like vermilion.
Eggs are not symmetrically shaped at both ends: in other
words, one end is comparatively sharp, and the other end is
comparatively blunt; and it is the latter end that protrudes first
at the time of laying. Long and pointed eggs are female; those that
are round, or more rounded at the narrow end, are male. Eggs are
hatched by the incubation of the mother-bird. In some cases, as in
Egypt, they are hatched spontaneously in the ground, by being buried
in dung heaps. A story is told of a toper in Syracuse, how he used
to put eggs into the ground under his rush-mat and to keep on drinking
until he hatched them. Instances have occurred of eggs being deposited
in warm vessels and getting hatched spontaneously.
The sperm of birds, as of animals in general, is white. After
the female has submitted to the male, she draws up the sperm to
underneath her midriff.
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