Abstract
THE production of eggs considerably smaller than the normal has been reported in various birds1 and has been well documented for the domestic fowl2. Such eggs have been described as “witch eggs”, “cock eggs”, “dwarf eggs” and “wind eggs”—the latter term also being applied to infertile eggs3. It was known as early as the seventeenth century3 that the yolks of such eggs were frequently absent, but that there was a central nucleus around which albumin was secreted. In an investigation of 236 dwarf eggs, Pearl and Curtis2 reported that 35 per cent of all dwarf eggs were without a yolk, 55 per cent contained free yolk and 15 per cent had a complete yolk.
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References
Romanoff, A. L., and Romanoff, A. J., The Avian Egg, 257 (Chapman and Hall, Ltd., London, 1949).
Pearl, R., and Curtis, M. R., J. Agric. Res., 6, 977 (1916).
Lind, L. R., Aldrovandi on Chickens. The Ornithology of Ulisse Aldrovandi (1600), 2, Book XIV (Univ. Oklahoma Press, 1963).
Fraps, R. M., Progress in Physiology of Farm Animals, edit. by Hammond, J., 661 (Butterworths Scientific Publications, London, 1955).
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Nalbandov, A. V., in Comparative Endocrinology, edit. by Gorbman, A., 161 (John Wiley, New York, 1959).
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ROOKLEDGE, K., HEALD, P. Dwarf Eggs and the Timing of Ovulation in the Domestic Fowl. Nature 210, 1371 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/2101371a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2101371a0
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