42 



THE OSPTJFA*. 



NEST AND EGGS^OF WHITE-THROATED SWIFT. 



stancl hiiw tlie birds f^ot into tlie narrow 

 crack. 



After securing this nest I found another, 

 which T uent down to, a few days later, in 

 company witli my bother Alan, bnt it was im- 

 possible to get it. 1 cut in abont one foot, 

 and there found a sing-le fresh egg lying on 

 the bare rock, it was at least 3 feet away 

 from the nest, coidd not have rolled there 

 without breaking, and may be accounted for, 

 I suppose, in the same way as .stray eggs of 

 the Ivock Wren, Burrowing- Owl and others 

 that are sometimes found away from the nest. 

 Whether these eggs properly constitute part 

 of the set may be open to question. 



Since the eggs of this species were first de- 

 scribed bv Mr, Walter E. I'rvant (Davie's Key 



they have become more fully known from the 

 notice by Mr. Cohen (Ospeey, Dec, 1S96) of the 

 eggs taken by Messrs. N. M. and R. B. Moran, 

 near San Luis Obispo, and the full account by 

 Mr. I!. B. Moran (Nidologist, Feb., 1897, pp. 63, 

 ii4) of his set of five taken May 16, and a set 

 of three taken from the same site, June 16 

 of the same year. Their peculiar shajie, size 

 and appearance distinguish them readily from 

 other small white eggs. The extreme diificultj' 

 and danger of securing them, even after a site 

 is found, must long ca 

 siderata in collections. 



In justice to Mr. Wheeler and myself, I 

 should add that the rope which was so neces- 

 sary in securing this set was returned. The 

 eggs are now in the collection of Mr. Maillaird. 



BLOWING INCUBATED EGGS. 



By W. E. S.nUiNDEES, London, Ont. 



LBERT LAND'S note in The Ospeey 

 on the use of pancreatin in di- 

 gesting and breaking up the 

 contents of incubated 

 eggs, touches a responsive 

 chord in me. I have long 

 thought of and wished to 

 use pepsin, but it requires 

 acid for activity, and acid 

 would dissolve the egg- 

 shell. So I pounced on 

 Mr. Land's idea, and here- 

 by tender him my thanks. 

 t u.sed it roughly on a set of Prairie Horned 

 Lark's eggs, taken on Oood Friday, about two- 

 thirds incubated; they rotted in three or four 



days, and the contents came readily through 

 a hole less than one-eighth of an inch in di- 

 ameter. 



On April 25th. I took five eggs of the Red- 

 shouldered Hawk, .ill considerably incubated, 

 and made accurate experiments. I was able 

 to blow out only about one-fourth of the con- 

 tents with the fountain syringe. I added one 

 grain of pancreatin. filled tip the eggs with 

 warm water, shook well, and placed them in 

 water at about 120 degrees, which was covered 

 so it would not cool rapidly. Next evening the 

 entire contents of one egg came away readily 

 and the other four were nearly emptied. 



The treatment was repeated, and in two 

 hours three of them were readily emptied. 



