If you take out of the shells a number of yolks and a
number of whites and pour them into a sauce pan and boil them slowly
over a low fire, the yolks will gather into the centre and the
whites will set all around them.
Young hens are the first to lay, and they do so at the beginning
of spring and lay more eggs than the older hens, but the eggs of the
younger hens are comparatively small. As a general rule, if hens get
no brooding they pine and sicken. After copulation hens shiver and
shake themselves, and often kick rubbish about all round them-and
this, by the way, they do sometimes after laying-whereas pigeons trail
their rumps on the ground, and geese dive under the water.
Conception of the true egg and conformation of the wind-egg take place
rapidly with most birds; as for instance with the hen-partridge when
in heat. The fact is that, when she stands to windward and within
scent of the male, she conceives, and becomes useless for decoy
purposes: for, by the way, the partridge appears to have a very
acute sense of smell.
The generation of the egg after copulation and the generation of
the chick from the subsequent hatching of the egg are not brought
about within equal periods for all birds, but differ as to time
according to the size of the parent-birds.
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