The eccaleobion machine, capable of containing 2000 eggs, resembles an oblong box, nine feet in length, three feet in breadth, and the same in height. It has no connection with the walls, against which it is placed on the table on which it stands; its regulating power is within." The contemplation of the progressive stages through which life is developed and matured in the egg, is highly interesting. The contents of the shells, of the species under immediate consideration, taken out and placed on a plate or a saucer on Mr. Bucknell's table, present the following appearances, according to the respective periods : On the third day, the embryo organisation of the skull, brain, heart, and blood is perceptible by the aid of a magnifying glass.
Fourth day. The pulsation of the heart is distinguishable by the naked eye.
Sixth day, The chief vessels and organs rudimentally formed ; the pulsation and circulation of blood apparent.
Ninth day. Intestines and veins formed, and tho deposition of flesh and bony substance commenced ; the beak for the first time open.
Twelfth day. The feathers have protruded, the skull has become cartilaginous, and the first voluntary movement of the chick is made.
Fifteenth day. Organs, vessels, bones, feathers, closely approaching in appearance to the natural state.
Eighteenth day. Vital mechanism nearly developed, and the first sign of life heard from the piping chick.
Twenty-first day. The chick breaks the shell, and in two or three hours is quite active and lively.
The exit of the chick from the shell is assuredly one of the most interesting processes of animated nature ever investigated by naturalists. It was supposed that the mother bird broke the shell ; but 31.116aumur has long since detailed the processes, and we ourselves have witnessed the evolution of the chick in the eccaleobiou by its own unassisted efforts. The French naturalist to whom we have just now referred thus explains some interesting facts :—" I have seen chicks continue at work for two days together. Some again work incessantly; others take rest at intervals, according to their physical strength. I have observed some, in consequence of their impatience to see the light, begin to break the shell a great deal too soon ; for they ought, before they make their exit, to have within them provision enough to serve for twenty-four hours without taking food, and for this purpose the un consumed portion of the yolk enters through the navel. The chick, indeed, which comes out of the shell before taking up all the yolk is certain to droop and die a few days after it is hatched. The help
which I have occasionally tried to give to several of them towards their deliverance has afforded me an opportunity of observing those which had begun to break their shells before this was accomplished ; and I have opened many eggs much fractured, in each of which the chick had as yet much of the yolk not absorbed. Besides, some chicks have greater obstacles to overcome than others, since all shells are not of an equal thickness nor of an equal consistence ; and I think it probable that the same inequality takes place in the lining membrane. The shells of the eggs of birds of various species are of a thickness proportional to the strength of the chick that is obliged to break through them.' (Domestic Habits of Birds, 'Library of Entertaining Knowledge?) There is a caution to be observed in all cases regarding the eggs when the chicks are on the verge of maturity : they should not be stirred when within two days of the evolvement of the chicks. if any circumstances render it absolutely necessary to do so, care should be taken to place them with the broad end inclining upwards, as the beak of the chick is then in its proper position ; and if this he reversed, the chick becomes unable to chip the shell, and must therefore die.
Chickens should be fed the day after their birth with crumbs of bread soaked in milk, or with the yolk of an egg boiled hard ; and they will quickly learn to eat curds, grits, and barley-meal and milk. If not designed for immediate use, they should soon get raw corn, and occasionally alteratives of green food, such as bruised leeks, nettles, lettuces, &c. For the first week they should be confined to the house altogether : after that time they may be let out for a short time in the sun, and gradually habituated to the weather. To reader the hen, which has already discharged her duty, still more productive to her owner, she is frequently confined to a coop, called in Surrey a rip, for some weeks after the chicks have seen the light. Her offspring during this time pass freely through the prison bars, returning at her call, or on occasions of alarm, to the maternal wings, and then hopping out again, to the inexpressible misery of their imprisoned mother, who is kept in this state of confinement until she becomes indifferent to the chickens and disposed to lay again.