BRIEF DIRECTIONS 
FOR 
C OLLECTING@ PRESERVING 
BIRDS > EGGS: AND NESTS. 
Remember that an egg has no financial or scientific value if it has no 
name. ‘Therefore, be very particular to identify all eggs collected. If you 
do not, you will have in many respects a worthless collection. If the eggs 
in a nest are strange or unknown to you, do not touch them until you 
have procured the parent bird. 
If you cannot skin the bird, preserve its head, wings, and feet until 
you can have them identified. A collector of eggs should dy all means 
learn to skin birds and put them in proper shape. He will then make 
few mistakes in his data. 
Empty the contents of an egg through ove smoothly drilled hole in 
the side, and drill it as small as can be got along with. Force the con- 
tents out by blowing into the hole with a blow-pipe. Do not make holes 
at the ends of an egg for the purpose of blowing the contents out. Do 
not hold it too tightly in your fingers, for, if it breaks, you will learn at 
once that a thing of beauty is zot always a joy forever. 
If the embryo is partially developed, the hole must necessarily be 
made larger, and the embryo should be extracted a little at a time with an 
embryo hook or forceps, and cut in pieces with a fine, narrow-bladed 
scissors. | By soaking the egg in water over night the embryo will often 
become very tender and can be taken out with ease. 
