PRESERVING EGG-SHELLS. 489 



PRESERVING EGG-SHELLS. 



To make his cabinet more complete, a sportsman may have a 

 desire to preserve the nests and forms of the eggs of such game- 

 birds as he may meet with in his rambles over the country. The 

 only effectual method of doing this is "to blow the eggs," as the 

 shells are so very porous that no plan, however skilfully devised, 

 will prevent the putrefaction, sooner or later, of their contents, if 

 we attempt to preserve them whole. Baking, boiling, slow drying, 

 immersion in spirits, varnishing, &c. have all been tried without 

 effect. To rightly "blow an egg-shell" is a process familiar to 

 every truant-playing young urchin, and it would therefore seem 

 unnecessary for us to enter into any detail upon so trite a subject ; 

 however, we may not go far amiss in instructing some one of our 

 quiet readers who, perchance, never played truant or robbed a 

 bird's nest in his youthful days. 



The plan to be pursued is to make a hole in proportion to the 

 size of the egg in the point and another in the butt ; shake the 

 egg well, or stir up the contents with a small wire or darning- 

 needle, so as to break up the yolk ; then apply the butt-end to the 

 mouth and blow the contents out at the point. This done to your 

 satisfaction, immerse the point in a cup of water and suck up a 

 small portion into the shell ; shake it well and blow it out ; repeat 

 this operation till the egg is entirely free from all the white or 

 yolk that may adhere to its inside. 



Eggs may also be blown by means of a small pipe constructed 

 as exhibited in the following diagram. 



These pipes, made of glass, can be had of the apothecaries. 

 If made to order, however, either of silver or other suitable 

 metal, they will answer a better purpose and last a lifetime : the 

 glass ones are apt to get broken, and at all times require nice 

 handling, as the points are necessarily so delicate and fine that 

 the slightest knock will fracture them. With the use of this pipe 

 it is only necessary to make one hole in the side, shake the egg 

 for a moment or so, to break up the yolk, then insert the point (c) 



