294 TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 



like the lid of a box on a hinge, and let the im- 

 prisoned bird escape. What convinced the 

 gentleman that the force had been applied from 

 the outside was that the edges of the cut or 

 break were bent in. 



If we wish rightly to interpret nature, to get 

 at the exact truth of her ways and doings, we 

 must cultivate what is called the critical habit 

 of mind; that is, the habit of mind that does 

 not rest with mere appearances. One must sift 

 the evidence, must cross- question the facts. 

 This gentleman was a lawyer, but he laid aside 

 the cunning of his craft in dealing with this 

 question of these egg-shells. 



The bending in, or the indented appearance 

 of the edge of the shells was owing to the fact 

 that the thin paper-like skin that lines the in- 

 terior of the shell had dried and shrunken, and 

 had thus drawn the edges of the shell inward. 

 The cut was made by the beak of the young 

 bird, probably by turning its head from right 

 to left; one little point it could not reach, anfl 

 this formed the hinge of the lid I have spoken 

 of. 



Is it at all probable that if the mother bird 

 had done this work she would have left this 

 hinge, and left it upon every egg, since the 

 hinge was of no use 1 The complete removal 

 of the cap would have been just as well. 



Neither is it true that the parent bird shoves 

 its young from the nest when they are ready to 

 fly, unless it be in the case of doves and pi- 

 geons. Our small birds certainly do not do this. 



