Fanciful Eggs

We see chicken eggs every day so we tend to assume all eggs are plain and never shiny.  In reality most eggs are not.

Shown above is an illustration of 50 European bird eggs by Adolphe Millot published 1897-1904(*).

The eggs have many shapes and sizes from the goldcrest’s tiny pink oval (#19) to the large pointed pyriform egg of the now extinct great auk (#47).

Few are a single solid color but even those are amazing — from pink to robin’s-egg blue to a beautiful avocado color.  Tinamous are from South America so their eggs aren’t pictured here, but it’s worth clicking this link to see their glossy eggs in several colors.

The dark patterns on eggs are almost fanciful wreaths, caps, scrawls, dots, streaks and blotches.  They’re made by protoporphyrin which is deposited within or on the shell while in the bird’s uterus.  These dark spots are stronger than the plain calcium shell and tend to be deposited where the eggshell is thinnest.  Some birds lay on extra protoporphyrin when their personal calcium supplies are low.

And, as a final touch some eggs are shiny, some are waterproof.  I have read that duck eggs feel oily and that jacanas, who build floating nests, lay eggs that are lacquered (#29, in the top row).

Explore the eggs in the illustration using the quick key below.  If you click on the image you can zoom the original to read the egg numbers.

(Credits:
Illustration of European bird eggs from “ŒUFS” (Eggs) by Adolphe Millot from Nouveau Larousse Illustré [1897-1904], in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons.  (*) This image has been altered as described in the “p.s.” below.  Click on the image to see the original.

Inspiration for this Tenth Page is from an illustration on page 400 of Ornithology by Frank B. Gill.)

p.s.  Key to the illustration, copied from Wikimedia Commons:
The original French designation may not correspond to the modern French term. Eggs 1-50 are bird eggs, reduced in size by about a third.  Eggs 51-72, (*)which I erased from this illustration, were from turtles, reptiles, moths etc. I erased them to highlight only the bird eggs.  Click on the image above to see the complete original on Wikimedia Commons.

#    French        English
1    De bondree    honey buzzard (?)
2    De faucon    falcon (?)
3    D'epervier    Eurasian sparrow-hawk
4    De merle    blackbird
5    De grive    thrush
6    De freux    rook
7    De bruant proyer    corn bunting
8    De gros-bec    hawfinch (or perhaps another grosbeak?)
9    De moineau    sparrow
10    De pinson    chaffinch (or other finch?)
11    De pitpit    pipit
12    De bruant des roseaux    reed bunting
13    De coucou    cuckoo
14    De petit oiseau-mouche    hummingbird (?)
15    De bec-croise    crossbill
16    De troglodyte    wren
17    De sittelle    nuthatch
18    De rossignol    nightingale
19    De roitelet    Kinglet (Goldcrest?)
20    D'accenteur    accentor
21    De bruant fou    rock bunting
22    D'effarvate    reed warbler
23    De rousserolle    sedge warbler (or other Acrocephalus?)
24    De fauvette    warbler (??)
25    De mesange    tit (?)
26    D'hypolais    tree warbler
27    De jaseur    waxwing
28    De loriot    oriole
29    De jacana    jacana
30    De grouse (?)    grouse (?!)
31    De lagopede    lagopus
32    De faisan    pheasant
33    De perdrix    partridge
34    De caille    quail
35    D'avocette    avocet
36    De chevalier arlequin    spotted redshank
37    De pluvier guignard    dotterel
38    De pluvier de Virginie (??)    plover (??)
39    De vanneau    lapwing
40    De chevalier cul-blanc    green sandpiper
41    De sterne hybride (??)    tern (??)
42    D'hirondelle de mer    common tern
43    De sterne de Ruppell (??)    tern (??)
44    De goeland    seagull
45    De plongeon    loon
46    De guillemot    guillemot
47    De grand pingouin    great auk
48 & 49    De macareux    puffin
50    De grebe    grebe

 

Avian Reproduction reference

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