52 BIRDS' NESTS. 



the line thus made, the point of a sharp pen- 

 knife was drawn, just heavily enough to cut 

 half way through the card. This made it very 

 easy to turn up a border, which served two 

 purposes first, to take up the card; and, 

 secondly, to write the name of a bird on. The 

 eggs, as soon as they were blown, were laid 

 in a warm place to dry, care being taken that 

 they should neither roll away nor be blown 

 away, and that the hole should be upwards. 

 When they were thoroughly dry, the name of 

 the egg was written on the border of the card, 

 and the egg itself fastened with gum or paste, 

 or, best of all, with India-rubber glue, to the 

 card, in such a way that the hole rested on the 

 card. If the egg happened to have a large 

 hole in it, a small piece of thin paper was glued 

 over the opening to keep out insects. Large 

 eggs were fastened on singly, one on a card ; 

 small ones in pairs ; and by the side of each 

 egg was written a number corresponding to a 

 similar number in a memorandum book, in 



