HARDWICKE'S 5C lENCE-GOSSIP. 



73 



COLLECTING AND PEESEEVING. 



No. III. -BIRDS' EGGS. 



By Thomas SouTHiyELL, F.Z.S. 



EFORE sayiug a word as to pre- 

 paring specimens for the cabinet, 

 I wish to impress upon the young 

 oologist tlie absolute necessity 

 for using the greatest care and 

 diligence in order satisfactorily 

 to identify, beyond possibility of 

 doubt, every specimen before he 

 admits it to his collection. With- 

 out such precautious, what might 

 otherwise be a valuable collection is 

 absolutely worthless ; and it is better 

 to have a small collcctiou of authentic 

 specimens than a much larger one, the 

 history of which is not perfectly satis- 

 factory ; in fact, it is a good rule to 

 banish from the cabinet every egg 

 which is open to the slightest doubt. 

 There are some eggs which, when 

 mixed, the most experienced oologist will find it 

 impossible to separate with certainty, and which 

 cannot be identified when once they are removed 

 from the nest. 



The difiiculties in the way of authentication are 

 by no means slight, but space will not allow me to 

 dwell upon them ; the most ready means, however, is 

 that of watching the old bird to the nest, although, 

 even in this, as the collector will find by experience, 

 there is a certain liability to error. In collecting 

 abroad it will be found absolutely necessary (how- 

 ever reluctant we may be to sacrifice life) to pro- 

 cure one of the parents with the nest and eggs. As 

 we are writing for beginners at home, we trust such 

 a measure will rarely be necessary; but that an 

 accurate knowledge of the appearance of the bird, 

 its nesting habits, the situation, and the materials 

 of which the nest is composed, will be found amply 

 sufiicient to identify the eggs of our familiar birds. 

 This knowledge of course is only to be obtained by 

 No. 88. 



patient and long observation, but it is just by such 

 means that the student obtains the practical insight 

 into the habits and peculiarities of the objects of his 

 study, together with the careful and exact method 

 of recording his observations, which eventually 

 enable him to take his place amongst the more 

 severely scientific naturalists whom he desires to 

 emulate. 



I will first describe the tools required, and then 

 proceed to the mode of using them. 



Eigs. 49 and 50 are drills used 

 for making the hole in the side 

 of the egg from which the con- 

 tents are discharged by means of 

 the blowpipe, fig. 51. Eig. 49 

 has a steel point, brass ferrule, 

 and ebony handle, and may be 

 used for eggs up to the size 

 of the Wood-pigeon's ; fig. 50 

 is all steel, the handle octago- 

 nal, to give a firm hold to the 

 fingers in turning it, and may be 

 used for eggs from the size of 

 the Wood-pigeon's upwards. 

 The points of both are finely 

 cut like the teeth of a file, but 

 longitudinally. The blowpipe, 

 fig. 51, is about 5h inches in 

 length (measured along the 

 curve), and is made of German 

 silver, which from its clean- 

 liness, lightness, and freedom 

 from corrosion, will be found 

 the most suitable : it should be 

 light and tapering, and with a Driiis^'for ptrforating 

 ring at the upper end, to pre- Birds* Eggs. 

 vent it from slipping out of 

 the mouth when used. A piece of thiu wire, fig. 53, 

 should be kept in the tube when ]iot in use, to 



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