Signs — Caution — IVeahness. 77 



still to be moistened as above, to facili- 

 tate the operation. Small points of scissars 

 may be useful, and when there is much re- 

 sistance and apparent pain to the bird, the 

 process must be conducted in the gentlest 

 manner, and the shell separated into a num. 

 ber of small pieces. The signs of a need 

 of assistance are, the eg^ being partly 

 pecked, and the efforts of the chicken dis- 

 continued for five or six hours. In com- 

 mencement, the shell may be broken cau- 

 tiously, by striking it with the end of a key, 

 the rotten egg is known immediately by the 

 motion of the contained fluid, and previous 

 unsteady incubation 



Weakness from cold, may disable the 

 chicken from commencing the operation of 

 pecking the shell, which must then be arti- 

 ficially performed, with a circular fracture, 

 such as is made by the bird itself. Pullets 

 are occasionally liable to cause this defect. 

 We have had but little success in this case, 

 the chickens after delivery, seldom succeed- 

 ing, but the following quotation from De 

 Reaumur will be fully explanatory, 



