The turtle, alligator, and those of the same kind of reptiles do not sit on their eggs. The female makes a kind of a nest in the sand or dry mud, lays the eggs, covers them over with sand and leaves the sun to do the rest. There are, however, many differences in the manner of HATCHING, the way the eggs are protected, and how the little ones are left to shift for themselves. But the manner of _starting_ each different form of life is always the same. In the bird, as in all live creatures of the female sex, are what we call ovaries, from the Latin word _ovum_, meaning egg. These ovaries are situated in the body in the region we call the groin. These ovaries are little sacks which have the power of creating eggs. As breeding time comes, these eggs drop out from the ovaries and remain for a short time just outside the sacks, but still in the bird’s body. Now the birds commence to mate, which is really nothing but the powerful instinct to reproduce their kind. The male bird is ready to be a father. He becomes vigorous, proud and strutting. His plumage is shining brilliant and he tries to show himself off before the females, who soon pick out their mates. The birds of the turkey or partridge type, dance, fight and sing in order to attract the attention of the females. As soon as mating takes place, off the couples go to build their nests, both working together early and late to make a warm place for the little ones to be hatched. The mating has taken place, the eggs of the female have become vitalized. The life germs have worked their way into the interior of the eggs; the eggs now commence to take on a protective covering; the shell. This soon grows to a hard shell. The eggs now being safely protected they drop out into the nest, and when all have been laid, the mother, and at times, the father bird, sit upon them until the little ones are hatched. If the female bird was kept in a cage and away from the male bird, the eggs would come just the same. But no amount of sitting upon them or putting them in an incubator would bring forth the young. The reason you all readily understand; the eggs have not been vitalized, given the sperm, by the male bird. So if you want to breed chickens you must always have a cock in the yard. All breeders of chickens first examine the eggs they are to put under a hen or in an incubator. By the light of a candle in a dark room you can see a tiny spot in the egg if it has been vitalized. This spot is the germinal spot――the evidence of the male element. Such an egg will hatch; one without such a spot will simply rot. When we reach the higher scale in animal life, where the dog, horse, lion, belong, we have reached that point where all reproduction takes place in the same manner as in man. I am referring now to details only, for as I have told you, the PRINCIPLES of reproduction are the same for everything that lives.