. The bird, its form and function . a Flicker which laid seventy-one eggs during the spaceof three-and-seventy days. A tiny African Waxbill incaptivity has been known to rear fifty-four young in thecourse of a year, during the same period laying an addi-tional sixty-seven eggs! The domestic hen has becomea veritable egg-laying machine, thanks to careful breed-ing in the past, since the wild Red Jungle Fowl from whichall varieties of poultry are descended, lays only one nestfulof seven to twelve eggs once a year. Many birds still hold to the old style of nesting inhollow trees and such conceale
. The bird, its form and function . a Flicker which laid seventy-one eggs during the spaceof three-and-seventy days. A tiny African Waxbill incaptivity has been known to rear fifty-four young in thecourse of a year, during the same period laying an addi-tional sixty-seven eggs! The domestic hen has becomea veritable egg-laying machine, thanks to careful breed-ing in the past, since the wild Red Jungle Fowl from whichall varieties of poultry are descended, lays only one nestfulof seven to twelve eggs once a year. Many birds still hold to the old style of nesting inhollow trees and such concealed places. Whether theyhunt around until they find a cavity ready-made by theelements, or whether, like the woodpeckers, they pro-ceed to excavate a home in a dead branch, or, kingfisher-like, to tunnel deep into a sand-bank, their eggs are almost The Eggs of Birds 445 invariably white. Many indeed have such glossy, highlypolished shells that, were they laid in exposed situations,their shining surface would be a sure guide to hungry. Fig. 353.—White eggs of Hairy Woodpecker in hollow tree.(Bowdish, photographer.) egg-eaters. Among such birds may be mentioned theowls, woodpeckers and parrots, trogons, motmots, king-fishers and puffins, besides many others which hide their 446 The Bird eggs in domed nests. On the other hand we find a num-ber of birds laying spotted eggs in concealed nests, andwhite eggs in open places; so that no universal law canbe framed to account for the varied colouring. This isnot surprising when we think of the great difference ofconditions under which each species lives. Take for ex-ample the two species of marsh wrens which live so happilyamong the reeds of the marshes of our Eastern birds build globular mouse-like nests, both hide theirtreasures deep in the interior, but the eggs of the Long-billed species are dark chocolate-brown, while the Short-bills eggs are like pearls. We do not know why thisdifference exists, but that need not deter
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1906
