When it comes to the art of egg decoration,Mother Nature is the original master.
The patterns and lines that adorn many eggs - like those of murres, grackles, and jacanas - are positively calligraphic. These markings, which get their pigment from bile acids and broken-down red blood cells, are applied during the tail end of the 20 hours during which the egg is in the shell-gland region of the oviduct. A shell that emerges encircled with wispy streaks (above) means the egg rotated while the inking occurred.
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