Their Eggs and Nests, 19 



date is about sure to be insufficient or untrust- 

 worthy. 



Perhaps the boy-collector too may not think a few 

 sentences about blowing and drying and mounting his 

 egg-treasures either tiresome or unnecessary. As a 

 rule, let the ^gg intended to be kept be blown and 

 dried as soon as possible. There are several reasons 

 for this piece of advice. The light shells travel moie 

 safely than the full ^gg ; the ^gg shells do not suffer 

 detriment from lying overlooked, with their contents 

 rotting within, as often happens with the collector of 

 uncareful and unprecise habits ; they are put into a 

 state of comparative readiness for prompt and complete 

 preparation and arrangement ; and though last not 

 least, a good, useful, methodical habit is encouraged in 

 the collector himself. 



There are several ways of blowing an ^gg and going 



through the preparatory stages of titting it to take its 



place in a collection. There are also instruments for 



extracting the contents of the shell so as to obviate 



the necessity of making more than one hole. I don't 



think they are likely to be of much use to a mere boy.' 



I am sure they would be a great deal of trouble, and 



I don't think that the end gained would repay the 



1 If, however, the boy has or acquires them, the following note is 

 useful : — *' The simplest and best way of blowing eggs is to drill a 

 hole in one side (not at the ends), then taking the egg, hole down- 

 wards, between the finger and thumb of the left hand, place the 

 blowpipe point just outside tlie hole, and blow into the egg ; this 

 will force out the contents. When this is done, blow a little clean 

 water into the egg, and shake it well ; then remove the water in the 

 same way as above, and allow the egg to dry hole downwards on 

 blotting paper ; it will then be quite clean." This note was ap- 

 pended to the first Edition, 



