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omitted to procure these and preserve them in spirits. All stages 

 of development are equally interesting, and complete series for the 

 same species would be of the highest importance. Whenever any 

 female mammal is killed, the uterus should be examined for em- 

 bryos. When eggs of birds, reptiles, or fish are emptied of their 

 young, these should be preserved. It will be sufficiently evident 

 that great care is required to label the specimens, as in most cases 

 it will be impossible to determine the species from the zoological 

 characters. 



Whenever the abundance of specimens will warrant it, as many 

 as fifty eggs of the same kind of bird, in different degrees of deve- 

 lopment, may be collected, care being taken to crack the egg at 

 the blunt end, to facilitate the entrance of the spirit. 



§ VI. NESTS AND EGGS.* 



Nothing forms a more attractive feature in a museum, or is more 

 acceptable to amateurs, than the nests and eggs of birds. These 

 should be collected whenever they are met with, and in any number 

 procurable for each species, as they are always in demand for pur- 

 poses of exchange. Hundreds of eggs of any species with their 

 nests (or without, when not to be had) will be gladly received. 



Nests require little preparation beyond packing so as to be 

 secure from crumbling or injury. Each one should be placed in a 

 box or ring of paper just large enough to hold it. The eggs of 

 each nest, when emptied, may be replaced in it and the remaining 

 space filled with cotton. 



Eggs, when fresh, and before the chick has formed, may be 

 emptied by making small pin-holes on opposite sides, and blowing 

 or sucking out the contents. Should hatching have already com- 

 menced, an aperture maybe made in one side by carefully pricking 

 with a fine needle round a small circle or ellipse, and thus cutting 

 out a piece. The larger kinds should be well washed inside, and all 

 allowed to dry before packing away. If the Q^g be too small for 

 the name, a number should be marked on it with ink corresponding 

 to a memorandum list. Little precaution is required in packing, 

 beyond arranging in layers with cotton and having the box entirely 



* A separate pamphlet has been published by the Institution in regard 

 to the collecting of nests and eggs. 



