124 DOMESTICATED TROUT. 



few empty eggs, and a large stove near by, to warm 

 themselves at. 



The method of procedure in the daily examination 

 of the eggs is, as before remarked, very much like 

 playing at jack-straws. You begin first with the loose 

 and uppermost eggs, then set more free by agitating 

 the water with the feather, then pick out the loose ones 

 again, then agitate the pile once more, and so on, till 

 they have all been spread and all picked out in that lot. 

 Leaving these evenly distributed, you pass on to the 

 next, keeping account of the number you pick out, 

 so as to know how many are left, and so on till all 

 are examined. Strange as it may seem, this work, 

 after all, has a certain charm about it, especially when 

 you think what a vast wealth of life moves under the 

 touch of your feather ; and it, moreover, affords an 

 excellent opportunity for quiet reflection, so that if 

 you can pick over the eggs without suffering too 

 much from the cold, it is not so unpleasant a task as 

 it seemed before you began it. 



The progress of the eggs in hatching will be watched 

 with the liveliest interest. The simplest way to ex- 

 amine their progress minutely is to take out two or 

 three eggs, and place them in a homoeopathic phial filled 

 with water. Hold the phial horizontally towards the 

 light and above the eye. The contents of the eggs 

 then become clearly visible, and can be examined at 

 leisure, and a magnifying lens applied if desired. This 

 is Seth Green's method. 



Another way is to take a small pane of window-glass, 

 and, by fastening narrow wooden sides to it, make a 



