No. 26. New-laid Egg, with part of the Shell removed 27. Egg of Black-cap 28. Egg of the Tom-tit 29. Egg of the Sky-lark 30. Egg of the Blackbird 31. Egg of the Magpie 32. Egyptian Egg-oven 33. Ground-plan of an Egyptian Egg-oven 144 38. Hatching-room over the bake-house ovens of the Priory of L'Enfant Jésus at Paris 39. An Egg as it appears twelve hours after incubation, with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick 40. An Egg as it appears sixteen hours after incubation, with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick. 41. An Egg as it appears thirty-six hours after incubation, with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick 42. An Egg opened thirty-six hours after incubation, with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick, in which is shown the first appearance of the principal bloodvessels 43. An Egg opened four days after incubation, with a magnified view of the Chick 147 148 149 150 44. An Egg as it appears five days after incubation, with a magnified view of the Chick 45. An Egg as it appears six days after incubation, with a No. 46. An Egg as it appears seven days after incubation, with a magnified view of the Chick 47. An Egg as it appears eight days after incubation, with a magnified view of the Chick Page 154 155 155 156 . 157 158 48. An Egg as it appears nine days after incubation 55. An Egg as it appears eighteen days after incubation 57. The Embryo Chick opened to show the absorption of the yolk into the body 58. An Egg as it appears twenty days after incubation, the vesicle and amnion are removed, to show the position 61. Eggs fractured by the included Chick 62. Positions of the Shell after the escape of the Chick No. 68. Breast-bone of a Wild Swan, with part of the Keel removed to show the convolutions of the Trachea within it. 69. Point of the Keel-bone, showing the opening through which the Trachea enters and returns 71. Singularly formed Windpipe of the Butor 72. Crowned Pigeon of Africa Page 232 232 77. Lammer Geyer, Bearded Eagle, or Vulture 78. Bernacle, or Claik Goose 79. Bernacle Goose-tree, from Gerard's Herbal 80. Bernacle Goose-tree, from Aldrovand 81. Bernacle Shell DOMESTIC HABITS OF BIRDS. CHAPTER I. HABITS OF CLEANLINESS IN BIRDS. ANIMALS appear to be cleanly in proportion to their sprightliness and activity; and small animals, with few exceptions, are also more active and more cleanly than those of a larger size. The domestic habits of birds, as well as what may be called their personal habits, furnish us with many illustrations of their peculiar attention to cleanliness, some of which it may prove interesting to detail. The instant any of their feathers are soiled they set about trimming them, and they are no less attentive to their nests. It is, no doubt, the same uncomfortable feeling which we experience when our hair becomes disarranged or tangled that induces birds to smooth their feathers; the matting together, for example, of two contiguous feathers at the points, causing them upon every motion of the muscles of the skin to twitch away the parts from which they spring. The irritation thus produced incites the bird to examine the feathers contiguous to the part; and by nibbling every plumelet with its beak, it soon succeeds in bringing them into their proper position, while it frees them, at the same time, from any extraneous matter that may adhere to them. It is surprising how soon nestling birds may B be seen thus trimming themselves. A short time after they are able to open their eyes, while the down which covers them when hatched has not begun to be replaced by feathers, we have, in .numerous instances, seen them turning round their heads and going over all the tiny bits of down and the ends of the sprouting feathers within their reach. This might be plausibly supposed to be rather the mother's task, and it is usually so stated in books; but though the mother is very attentive, as we shall presently see, to every species of cleanliness, Providence has ordered that so important a circumstance should not be left wholly to her care. Those who have not an opportunity of verifying our remark in the case of nestling birds, may readily observe the same thing in domestic animals. Cats, for example, are very assiduous in cleaning the fur of their kittens, for which purpose their rough tongue is admirably adapted: but a kitten, like the nestling bird, when only a few days old, may be seen dressing itself assiduously; and as soon as it can run about, it will even endeavour to clean its dam. This circumstance we never observed among young birds and their mothers; though it is by no means uncommon among rabbits, horses, and other domestic quadrupeds. Mutual assistance in cleaning is even given by individuals not of the same family, as may be seen in horses dressing each other's necks; and Wilson relates an instance of the same thing in the case of two birds, not even of the same species, in his inimitable account of the blue jay (Garrulus cristatus, BRISSON). An individual of this species, which had been caught in the woods, was put into the same cage with an orchard oriole (Icterus spurius, BONAPARTE), who at first received the new comer with no little jealousy; but this all vanished in a few hours, and they lived together in good humour. |
