The why and wherefore of the colors of birds' eggs, says Ernest
Ingersoll, has been a favorite theme for speculation, from the quaint
surmisings of Sir Thomas Browne to the solemn guess-work of Shufeldt,
in his ten "biological laws explanatory of the variation in color of
the shells of the eggs in class Aves."* Hewitson piously concludes that
the beauty of these elegant and often exquisitely attractive objects is
intended for the delight of human eyes; hence, as he says, eggs simply
white are put out of sight in holes! He also sees in the larger number
of eggs laid by game-birds a provision by a benevolent Providence for
the joy of the sportsman and the delectation of the epicure. Next
comes a man who assures us that the colors of eggs are due to the
influence of their respective surroundings on the imagination of the
hen birds--the old story of Jacob's little trick on Laban in the matter
of young cattle. This school instances as an example the red blotches
prevalent on the eggs of falcons, regarded by it as a record of the
bloody experiences of the parents; but it does not explain why the
equally rapacious owls produce pure white eggs, or the blood-thirsty
skuas and shrikes lay greenish ones. Other equally fallacious
theorizings might be noted.
[Illustration: FROM KOEHLER'S MEDICINAL-PFLANZEN.
TEA.
CHICAGO:
A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER.]
Explanation of plate: _A_, flowering branch, nearly natural size;
1, flower in section; 2, stamen; 3, ovary in transverse section; 4,
pistil; 5 and 6, fruit, with seed; 7, seed; 8, seed in sections.