6 



out, especially if large, with thin paper or silk or goldbeaters' 

 BRin. If a piece be removed, it can usually be easily replaced 

 and kept in by pasting thin paper over it and the line of 

 separation, or around the latter. 



Notwithstanding the apparent fragility of eggs, a very little 

 experience will enable any one to empty them of their contents 

 with great ease and safety. The principal accident to be guarded 

 against is that of crushing the egg by too great pressure between 

 the fingers ; these should be applied so as to barely hold the egg, 

 and no more. If the operation of emptying be performed over 

 a full basin of water, the occasional dropping of the egg from 

 the finger into the water will be attended with no harm. 



To pack eggs for transportation, each one should be wrapped 

 in a light envelop of cotton and laid down in layers separated by 

 strata of cotton. They should be kept in rather small boxes of 

 wood, or if pasteboard be used, these should always be trans- 

 mitted in wooden boxes, as the eggs are thereby less likely to be 

 broken by a sudden jar or shock. If the nest is sent along, it 

 may contain the eggs belonging to it, each one wrapped in cot- 

 ton, and the vacancy of the nest filled with the same or other 

 light elastic material. It will be well to pin or tie up each nest 

 in paper to keep it secure, and to prevent entangling of the ma- 

 terials when several are laid together. A temporary box may 

 often be readily constructed of pasteboard, to contain the more 

 delicate or valuable ones. 



Whenever practicable, the embryos or young found in the egg 

 should be carefully preserved in alcohol, great care being, of 

 course, taken to mark the specimens properly. The better plan 

 will be to keep each set in a small bottle or vial, and a slip of 

 stiff paper or parchment placed inside with the number or name. 

 Whenever the abundance of the eggs will authorize it, a large 

 number with the young in difi'erent degrees of development, even 

 as many as fifty of a kind, should be secured. The embryos in 

 this case need not be removed from the egg, which should, how- 

 ever, be cracked at the blunt end to facilitate the entrance of the 

 spirit. Researches at present in progress relating to the em- 

 bryology of birds promise results of the highest importance in 

 reference to ornithological classification. 



In addition to the nests and eggs of North American birds, 

 skins of some species are wanted by the Smithsonian Institution 



