viii INTRODUCTION 



of doing everything. The proper method of procedure has 

 been very admirably laid down by Professor Alfred Newton, 

 Dr. Elliott Cones, and many other authors. 



In preparing eggs for a cabinet, only one hole should be 

 made. This should be done in the centre of the side 

 showing the characteristic markings in the least conspicuous 

 manner. The hole should not be made with a needle, which 

 if thrust in forcibly is very liable to crack the egg, but with 

 a pointed conical drill, rather blunter than an ordinary lead 

 pencil is cut. These drills, two of which of different sizes 

 are shown in the engraving, may be obtained at any bird- 

 stuffer's or naturalist's, but a very good substitute may be 

 made by taking straight pieces of stout iron wire of different 

 thicknesses, a few inches in length, and riling them to a 

 point so as to resemble a cut pencil. The point, however, 

 should not be conical but many-sided, as the rough edges 

 are required to wear away the substance of the shell. The 

 points of these drills, after being filed out of soft iron wire, 

 may be heated over a lamp just short of redness and then 

 instantaneously plunged into cold water, which will harden 

 them sufficiently for all practical purposes. 



The egg to be blown should be held gently but steadily 

 in the fingers, the point of the drill applied perpendicularly 

 to the surface some persons make a single slight prick 

 with a needle in the first instance ; the drill should then 

 be twirled between the finger and thumb with but slight 

 pressure, when it files away the shell, boring a smooth-edged 

 circular hole. This done, the point of a small blowpipe, 

 which can be purchased for a few pence at any naturalist's 

 or tool-shop, should be inserted and the egg blown into, the 

 hole being held downwards, when the contents are expelled 

 by the air. In order to cleanse thoroughly the interior of 



