THE OOLOGIST 



135 



tact with the inner surface of the shell 

 at the hole made by the drill., A few 

 more twirls will then cut the lining. 

 Then withdraw the drill, turn the egg 

 over, still holding it between the 

 thumb and finger of the left hand, 

 take a small blow pipe and hold the 

 point of the same near the oriface 

 of the egg, turning the egg upside 

 down over the basin of water. Then 

 blow through the blow pipe and the 

 air will gradually enter the egg and 

 force the contents out of the same 

 hole. 



After the entire contents of the egg 

 has been blown out in this way, then 

 take some water in the mouth from 

 the tumbler of water standing near- 

 by and blow the water through the 

 blow pipe into the egg. Do this with 

 some force, but not enough to destroy 

 the egg shell. After the egg has been 

 blown full of water, then blow the 

 water out of the egg. Repeat this two 

 or three times until the contents of 

 the egg is thoroughly cleansed out, 

 for any foreign matter of any kind or 

 any of the contents of the egg that 

 may be left in will surely stain the 

 shell and ultimately destroy the spe- 

 cimen. 



After this has been done and you 

 are sure that the contents of the egg 

 is entirely out and the inner surface 

 of the shell thoroughly cleansed, then 

 lay the egg upside down with the hole 

 resting on a small piece of blotting 

 paper. This should be clean and not 

 ink stained. 



Continue the same process with each 

 one of the eggs in this set, laying them 

 side by side on the blotter when the 

 blowing is completed. They should 

 be left in this position until they are 

 thoroughly dry, and all the other eggs 

 taken should be drilled in exactly the 

 same manner, using care to see to 

 it that the sets do not become mixed, 

 and that each different set is kept sep- 

 arately until marked. 



If the eggs are not thoroughly 

 cleansed, their taking and preparation 

 will be all to no purpose, for they will 

 finally become spotted and ultimately 

 disintegrate. It is always important 

 to use the smallest drill possible on 

 each egg. 



The above is the proceeding for 

 blowing all eggs which are fresh. 

 Makes no difference whether they are 

 the size of a goose egg or the size 

 of a Hummingbird's egg. The same 

 proceeding is followed from beginning 

 to end. 



Assuming now that all of the eggs 

 we took on the day before above men- 

 tioned have been blown and arrang- 

 ed on the blotter as directed, and have 

 been left there long enough to become 

 thoroughly dry, the next thing is to 

 mark them. The marking of speci- 

 mens is one of the very important 

 steps in their preparation. Care 

 should be taken to mark each set 

 neatly, legibly and according to the 

 system used by Oologists. They 

 should be marked with a soft, pointed 

 lead pencil unless you are a high class 

 expert with India ink like E. J. Court 

 at Washington and a few others of 

 his kind, who are very rare indeed; 

 but if you are then you may assay 

 the use of India ink. 



The set of Bluebird*s eggs should 

 be marked as follows: Above the 

 blow hole on the larger end of the egg 

 and near the blow hole should be plac- 

 ed neatly the figures 776, which is 

 the number of the Bluebird in the 

 American Ornithologist's Union ('A. 

 O.U.")- Check List of North Ameri- 

 can birds. To the right of the blow 

 hole should be placed a short straight 

 line as near as may be opposite the 

 center of the blow hole. Above this 

 line should be placed the letter "a" 

 and beneath the line the figure "5." 

 The letter "a" indicates the fact that 

 this was the first set of Bluebirds 



