498 TAXIDERMY. 



First, we come to his mode of preparing birds' eggs. When 

 I was a boy, I used to be terribly annoyed to find that 

 valuable eggs, which had been obtained almost at the risk of 

 my life, were putrid, and swarming with maggots, owing to 

 the decay of the lining membrane. Waterton's gradual im- 

 provement in egg preservation was very interesting, as 

 showing the growth of the art. 



Of course, he introduced the solution of corrosive sublimate, 

 but he did so by sucking it into the egg by a hole at one end, 

 while the lips were applied to the other. Now, he soon found 

 that making a hole at the end of the egg spoiled its contour, 

 and he then made the two holes at one side. Afterwards, he 

 only employed one rather large hole, and emptied the egg by 

 shaking it in water. 



I have found, however, that a single small hole on the side 

 will suffice. Get a piece of ordinary glass tubing, about 

 eighteen inches long, and not more than a quarter of an inch 

 in diameter, heat it red-hot in a spirit lamp or a gas flame, 

 and then draw it out in the shape of an elongated hour-glass. 

 Break it asunder, and you have a tube with a point about as 

 large as a darning needle. 



Now break up the yolk of the egg with your needle, intro- 

 duce the glass point, and you can suck out the contents of the 

 egg in the tube. Inject water once or twice so as to clean it 

 completely, and then, by the same means, introduce the poison. 



For soft-shell eggs like those of the snake or turtle, the 

 best plan is to empty them, poison them, fill them with sand, 

 and let them dry, hanging them separately in pieces of net or 

 muslin to keep them from flattening. When quite dry, the 

 sand can be shaken out and the egg will ever afterwards re- 

 tain its shape. If the egg be " hard set," the best plan is to cut 

 out a small piece of the shell, dry it on a curved surface, lest 

 it should lose its shape, and extract the contents through the 

 opening. When it is dry, the piece of shell can be replaced 

 with a little thin paper and diamond cement, and if neatly 

 done, the junction will scarcely be visible. 



