De ovis [423] quorum albumen corruptum est, sicut humor in apostemate, unde et infoecunda et omnino foetida redduntur, Alberti verba recitavi supra[1]. Videntur autem eadem urina Aristotelis esse: quanquam is urinorum non albumen sed vitellum corruptum esse scribit. ¶ Si incubante gallina tonuit, ova pereunt, Aristot.[2] Si incubatu tonuerit, ova pereunt: et accipitris audita voce vitiantur. remedium contra tonitrum, clavus ferreus sub stramine ovorum positus, aut terra ex aratro, Plinius[3]. Tonitrua incubationis tempore ova concutiunt, unde illa corrumpuntur, et praecipue si iam in eis formati sunt pulli. sed aliarum avium ovis magis haec nocent, aliarum minus: corvorum maxime. itaque videntur corvi partu suo et incubitu tempus tonitrui praevenire, et pullos Martio educare, Albert. Tonitruis vitiantur ova, pullique semiformes interimuntur antequam toti partibus suis consummentur, Columella[4].

Previously I quoted the words of Albertus about the eggs whose albumen is rotten like the liquid in an abscess, that's why they become infertile and extremely fetid. It seems that they correspond to those full of wind of Aristotle: even if he writes that it is not the albumen but the yolk to be altered in those full of wind. ¶ If it has thundered while the hen is brooding, the eggs become ruined, Aristotle. If it will thunder during the incubation, the eggs become ruined: and if they have heard the voice of the hawk go badly. A remedy against the thunder is represented by an iron nail placed under the litter of the eggs, or some earth taken from the plow, Pliny. The thunders shake the eggs in the period of incubation, that's why they go badly, and especially if in them the chicks already are formed. But these things do harm more to the eggs of some birds, less to those of others. Above all to those of crows. That's why it seems that the crows prevent the period of the thunders through laying and brooding, and that they raise the chicks in March, Albertus. The eggs are altered by thunders, the growing chicks are killed before they are completed in all their parts, Columella.

¶ Incubatio et exclusio. De incubatione nonnihil superius scriptum est, et scribetur in E. copiose. Gallinae cum incubant, non cum peperint, furiunt, ratione inediae, Aristot. in Problem. 10.37. Ovis triduo incubatis puncti magnitudine apparent viscera, Aristot. Et rursus, Ova gallinarum tertia die ac nocte postquam coepere incubari, indicium praestare incipiunt. maiori quidem avium generi plus temporis praetereat necesse est, minori minus sufficit.[5] Schista[6] ova Plinius appellat tota lutea, quae triduo incubata tolluntur. Causa nominis, ut arbitror, quia dividantur, et discedat vitellus a candido, Hermolaus. In ovo primum apparet caput pulli, Galenus in Anatome vivorum. sed de formatione pulli in ovo plura superius scripta sunt.

¶ Incubation and exclusion. About the incubation something has been previously written and will be abundantly written in the paragraph E. The hens when are broody, not after laid an egg, are furious because of abstinence from food, Aristotle in Problemata 10,37. In the eggs incubated since three days become evident the entrails having the size of a point, Aristotle. And still: The eggs of the hens start to show a sign after third day and third night since started to be incubated. In the birds of greater size it is necessary that a larger period of time is running, in the smaller ones it is enough a briefer time. Pliny calls schista eggs – split eggs - the wholly yellow ones removed at third day of incubation. It seems me that the reason of this name is in the fact that they split up and the yolk parts from the white, Ermolao Barbaro. In the egg firstly appears the head of the chick. Galen in Administrationes anatomicae Libri I-IX. But about the formation of the chick in the egg quite a lot has been written formerly.

¶ Excludunt celerius incubantes aestate, quam hyeme. ideo aestate gallinae duodevigesimo (undevigesimo, Plinius) die foetum excludunt: hyeme aliquando vigesimoquinto. Discrimen tamen et avium est, quod aliae magis aliis fungi officio incubandi possunt, Aristot.[7] Aestate locis calidis decimonono die exeunt ova, hyeme vicesimonono, Albertus. Caput pulli ad acumen ovi convertitur[8], et totum corpus ad residuum: et pullus nascitur supra pedes, sicut et caeteri pulli avium, Idem. Et rursus, Exit autem in partu prius pars latior, quae extrorsum in ave vertitur: posterius acuta, quae diaphragma respicit. quare etiam durior est eadem et ex calore nonnihil corrugata in ovis gallinarum. Exeunt ova a rotundissima sui parte, dum pariuntur, molli putamine, sed protinus durescente, quibuscunque emergunt portionibus, Plinius[9].

¶ They hatch more quickly if the hens brood them in summer rather than in winter. Insofar in summer the hens hatch the fetus at 18th day (19th, Pliny): in winter sometimes at 25th. However also a difference exists among the birds, since some can perform the duty of brooding better than others, Aristotle. In summer in warm places the eggs hatch at 19th day, in winter at 29th, Albertus. The head of the chick goes towards the pointed end - not! towards the blunt end - of the egg and the whole remnants of the body go towards the remaining space: and the chick hatches by leaning on feet, as also the other chicks of the birds, still Albertus. And yet: During egg laying first comes out the widest part of the egg, which turns outward inside the bird: lastly comes out the sharp part, which is directed toward the diaphragm. That's why yhis is also the hardest part and in the eggs of the hens is rather wrinkled because of the heat. The eggs while are laid go out showing their more rounded part, with a soft shell, but which quickly hardens with whatever part are going out, Pliny.

D.

D

Gallinae cum mares vicerint, cucur<r>iunt, et exemplo marium tentant superventu coire. crista etiam caudaque erigitur, ita, ne facile praeterea sit, an foeminae sint cognoscere. nonnunquam etiam calcaria parva iis enascuntur, Aristot.[10] ¶ Villaribus gallinis et religio inest. inhorrescunt {a}edito ovo, excutiuntque sese, et circumactu purificant, et festuca aliqua sese et ova lustrant, Plin.[11] De hoc gallinarum pericarphismo, plura leges in C. Ὡς δ’ὄρνις ἀπτῇσι {νεοοσοῖσι} <νεοσσοῖσι> προφέρῃσι | Μάστακ’, ἐπεί< >κε λάβῃσι. κακῶς δ’ἄρα οἱ πέλει αὐτῇ, Achilles Iliad. ι.[12] suos quos pro Graecis subierat labores et pericula prae nimia in eos benevolentia, conferens matricis avis (gallinae nimirum per excellentiam) in pullos affectui, quos illa dum pascit, et cibos subinde collectos ore porrigit, se suamque famem negligit. Citat haec verba Plutarchus in libro de amore parentum erga prolem[13]. Ubi haec etiam eius verba leguntur, {ὅτι} <ὥσπερ> ἡ Ὁμηρικὴ ὄρνις τῷ ἑαυτῆς τρέφει λιμῷ τὰ ἔγγονα καὶ τὴν τροφὴν τῆς γαστρὸς ἁπτομένην, ἀποκρατεῖ καὶ πιέζει τῷ στόματι, μὴ λάθῃ καταπιοῦσα. Gyb. Longolius sic transtulit, Homerica avis sua fame parvulos natos pascit: et nutrimentum quod ventri suo destinaverat, ore retinet, ne eo in ventrem delapso in oblivionem ipsa adducatur. Sed lector {consyderabit} <considerabit>, an sic potius reddi debeant verba posteriora: Ventris sui alimentum ore tenens, abstinet tamen, et ne forte nolens etiam deglutiat, mordicus premit.

The hens, when got the better of the males, do a cock-a-doodle-doo and on the example of males they try to pair off by mounting. Also the comb as well as the tail straighten up, so that afterward it is not easy to realize if they are females. Sometimes also little spurs are sprouting, Aristotle. ¶ In hens of farm also a rituality exists. They ruffle the feathers after laid the egg and shake and purify themselves going round and round, and purify themselves and the eggs with a straw, Pliny. About this perikarphismós - to cover themselves with straw - you will read quite a lot of things in the paragraph C. Ηøs d’órnis aptêisi neossoîsi prophérëisi | Mástak’, epeíke lábëisi. kakôs d’ára oi pélei autêi - For like the hen offers to featherless chicks | the food after she got it, this fact goes against herself, Achilles in Iliad IX. His labours and dangers he went towards for Greeks because of an excessive love for them, referring himself to the fondness of the mother bird (who obviously is represented for excellence by the hen) towards the chicks, who while is grazing them and giving with mouth the just picked up foods is neglecting herself and her hunger. Plutarch quotes these words in the book The love of parents toward offspring. In which his following words are read too: høsper hë Homërikë órnis tøi heautês tréphei limøi tà éggona kaì tën trophën tês gastròs haptoménën, apokrateî kaì piézei tôi stómati, më láthëi katapioûsa. –  as the Homeric bird nourishes their chicks at the price of his own hunger and prevents the nourishment to reach his stomach, he holds it in his beak being afraid of swallowing it without his knowledge. Gisbert Longolius translated as follows: The Homeric bird feeds his little young with his own hunger and the food he had intended for his own stomach he keeps in his mouth lest when it has descended thither he himself should be led to forget. But the reader will consider if the last words don't owe rather sound in this way: Keeping with the mouth the food destined to his belly, nevertheless he abstains and seizes it in an obstinate way so that unintentionally doesn't swallow it.

Et paulo post[14] in eodem libro: Quid vero gallinae, (inquit Plutarchus,) quas observari nostris oculis quotidie domi conspicamur, quanta cura et sedulitate pullos custodiunt et gubernant: aliis alas, quas subeant, remittunt: aliis dorsum, ut scandant, reclinant. neque ulla pars corporis est, qua non fovere illos, si possent, cupiant: neque id sine gaudio et alacritate, quod et vocis sono testari videntur. Canes et angues (κυνέας καὶ δρακοντίας, forte κίρκους καὶ δράκοντας) cum de se agitur, sibique solis metuunt, fugiunt tum quidem. si vero pullorum agmini ab his periculum verentur, vindicare illud ab iniuria nituntur, et supra quam vires patiuntur saepe dimicant.

And a little ahead in the same book Plutarch says: What to say of the hen, whom we observe each day at home, with what care and solicitude they guard and lead their chicks: for some of them they let down their wings for the chicks to come under: for others they turn back their backs for them to climb up. And there is no part of their bodies with which they do not wish to protect them if possible: nor they do this without joy and enthusiasm, and it seems that are testifying this by the sound of their voice. When they are dealing with themselves and are fearing only for themselves, only then they avoid dogs and snakes (kynéas - dogs - kaì drakontías - and little snakes, perhaps kírkous – hawks - kaì drákontas – and dragons, snakes). But if they fear that from these enemies a danger can follow for their crowd of chicks, they struggle in avenging it for the offence, and often fight beyond their own endurance.

Gallinae avesque reliquae, sicut Cicero ait[15], et quietum requirunt ad pariendum locum, et cubilia sibi nidosque construunt, eosque quam possunt mollissime substernunt, ut quam facillime ova serventur. ex ovis pullos cum excluserunt, ita tuentur, ut et pennis foveant, ne frigore laedantur: et si est calor a Sole, se opponant. Cum autem pulli pennulis uti possunt, tum volatus eorum matres prosequuntur, Gillius. Super omnia est anatum ovis subditis atque exclusis, admiratio primo non plane agnoscentis foetum: mox incertos incubitus solicite convocantis: postremo lamenta circa piscinae stagna, mergentibus se pullis natura duce, Plin.[16] Exeuntes pullos gallina sub alas congregat, defenditque eos a milvo et aliis periculis, Albert. Gallina supra modum diligit foetum suae speciei, adeo ut prae voce nimis acuta qua suum in pullos amorem testatur, aegrescat. Ova quidem quae incubat, unde sint non curat, circa alienum etiam partum solicita. Idem. Gallina ardet studio et amore pullorum: primum enim ut circum avem rapacem supra tectum gyros agere cognoscit, statim vehementer vociferatur, et cervicem iactans, atque in gyrum contorquens, caput in altum tollit, ac omnibus plumis inhorrescit, tum explicatis alis timidos pullos, et sub alato tegmine pipientes protegit, avemque procacem retrocedere cogit: Deinde eos ex [424] latibulo plumeo prodeuntes studiose pascit, Gillius[17].

As Cicero says, hens and other birds also seek a quiet place in which to lay their eggs and build sleeping places for themselves and nests, and cover them as softly as possible, so that the eggs preserve themselves as easily as possible: so that when chicks came out from eggs are protected in such a way to warm them also with feathers in order that they are not injured by cold: and if the weather is hot, so that they come between the sun. In fact when chicks can use their small feathers, then the mothers follow them in their flies, Pierre Gilles. Above every other thing there is the extraordinary fact of when the eggs of duck have been put for brooding and hatching under a hen, who at first doesn't recognize at all the chick: then to lie down on him in a uncertain manner and  breathlessly calling him: finally her complaints around the  stretch of water in which the chicks are swimming under the guide of nature, Pliny. The hen picks up under the wings the chicks coming out of the egg and defends them from kite and other dangers, Albertus. The hen loves in an exaggerated way the fetus of her species, to the point to get sick because of the extremely acute voice with which she attests her love towards the chicks. In fact she doesn't take care whence are coming the eggs she is incubating, being thoughtful also towards the birth of other females, still Albertus. The hen burns of care and love for the chicks: first of all she is well aware of how to vault around a rapacious bird which is above her shelter, then immediately starts shouting in a deafening way and by lengthening the neck and by twisting all herself she raises the head and gets ruffled with all the feathers, then, after has spread the wings, she protects under the winged protection the timid peeping chicks, and forces the insolent bird to retreat: then she grazes them with care while are coming out from the hideaway of feathers, Pierre Gilles.