INTRODUCTION. 11 



Note. — Take care in making a hole not to injure any mark- 

 ings ; and, when blowing, place beneath a pail or basin contain- 

 ing a few inches of water to catch the egg, should it slip. An 

 egg when full is very easily broken, but when blown may often 

 be dropped without injury on to a carpet or the like. One with 

 the contents entirely removed floats in water with only about a 

 third or less of the shell beneath the level of the surface. A 

 thin-shelled egg may be held to the light to ensure emptiness. 



§ J. Eggs may be cleaned with a soft, wet rag, dipped in 

 tooth-powder, or by the careful use of an ink-eraser (with a 

 flat, pointed, steel blade), though the latter may injure the 

 surface. Certain eggs (but none of those described in this 

 volume) are calcareous, and their chalky shells cannot be safely 

 cleaned. Others, however, have a certain ''bloom," like that 

 of a grape, which can be washed off. 



To mend an egg, if broken into bits of manageable size, 

 take one a little smaller and of no value, wet it, or coat it 

 with a very delicate varnish, and place on it the bits of shell 

 in their proper positions, so that they shall fit together. For 

 large eggs, a mould of putty, if carefully shaped, may be used 

 instead. Cracks may be brushed with collodion. The common 

 method of glueing bits together with mucilage and thin paper 

 is often clumsy or dangerous, and, even if successful, generally 

 ruins the fair appearance of any specimen. 



§ K. Place your eggs, when blown, promptly in your 

 cabinet, and have some means of identifying them afterwards. 

 Labels should be altogether avoided, as they greatly mar the 

 beauty of a collection, and an^' writing on the shell should be 

 condensed and placed on the under side, where it will be in- 



