CHAP. 18. (16.)—BIRDS WHICH ARE BORN WITH THE TAIL FIRST.

Among foreigners, a person called Hylas is thought to have written the best treatise on the subject of augury. He informs us that the owlet, the horned owl, the woodpecker, which makes holes in trees, the trygon, and the crow, are produced from the egg with the tail[1] first; for the egg, being turned upside down through the weight of the head of the chick, presents the wrong end to be warmed by the mother as she sits upon it.

1. Cuvier ridicules the excessive ignorance of the augurs. It is with the beak that the young bird breaks the shell.