'TJieir Eggs mid Nests. 21 



shaken, and the water then expelled as the legitimate 

 contents had been : a very gentle puff will suffice for 

 this. Repeat the process two or three times, or until 

 the water comes out as clear as it went in ; then dry 

 the e^g as well as you can by blowing through it at 

 intervals, after it has been so held that the moisture 

 on the inside may all trickle down towards the vent- 

 hole ; after which it may be set up for some hours 

 in an airy, but not sunny, place to dry thoroughly. 

 Some collectors varnish their eggs. A little of the 

 white of the egg itself is all-sufficient, and that should 

 not be applied unless the Qgg is perfectly clean, which 

 is by no means the case with the eggs of many ground- 

 building birds when taken from the nest. I have 

 taken Dabchicks' eggs also so completely muddied all 

 over, that it was almost impossible to get them clean. 

 One,met with on one of the Essex marshes a year or two 

 since, which was the only one yet laid and apparently 

 not a day old, was so engrained with dirt or mud that 

 it defied all efforts to restore it to its pristine white- 

 ness. In the case of an originally white eg^, such 

 efforts at cleansing will not do much harm; in the 

 case of an egg strongly marked with deep colours, it 

 is a difterent matter. The efforts to remove the clay 

 or dirt imparted by the feet of the parent bird may 

 succeed in removing the stains in question, but may 

 also very likely remove some of the tints or stronger 

 colouring too. It must be remembered that the 

 deeper colours of many eggs are not "fast," at all 

 events when they have not been long laid, and that 

 attempts at cleansing, more vigorous than judicious, 

 may easily produce an undesired result. 



