4 THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OOLOGISTS’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 
to appreciate that useful article) now getting his tools, not forgetting 
a glass of water to use in rinsing the eggs, he is ready to go to work. 
The points of the drills, as bought, are always dull, and it is rec- 
ommended to start the hole in the egg with a pin or needle. These 
useful articles are small, likely to get lost while working with, and 
make one more article to look after. You can dispense with them by 
carefully filing the point of your drillto a needle-like point. Select 
the least showy part of the egg, and holding it (the egg) in your left 
hand(the right if you are left-handed) put the point of the drill 
against the “least showy part,” and twirl it (the drill) between the 
thumb and forefinger. Don’t bear on the drill, as if you were drill- 
ing in iron, if you do you'll have a hoie clear through both sides of 
the egg, something you don’t want. ‘The hole, being drilled until the 
largest circumference of the burr passes inside of the egg, don’t try 
to pull it out, as a broken egg will be the resultif you do. There is 
an internal pellicle lining the egg; if this is not cut out where the hole 
is drilled, it will interfere with blowing the egg. By bringirg the burr 
of the drill up against this pellicle, as if you were going to remove it 
from the egg, and giving it the same twirling motion that you did 
when drilling, the pellicle will be cut ali around the edges of the 
hole and the drill will come out. Now take your blow-pipe, and 
putting the point of it close to the hole, blow gently and the contents 
will come out. . When incubation is more er less advanced, a larger 
hole must be drilled and the embryo removed with the hook and scis- 
sors, a tedious operation and not always successful, even with the 
greatest of care. Better let incubated eggs remain in the nest. A 
litle experience will teach you how to differentiate fresh eggs from 
those that are too far advanced to save. 
Never put the point of the blow-pipe inside of the egg, as a burst- 
ed egg will be the result, especially so, if your lungs are well devel- 
oped. Having emptied the egg of its contents, the next step is to 
take a mouthful of water and inject it through the blow-pipe into the 
egg, rinsing it thoroughly. Large eggs should be filled half full of 
water and well shaken. Eggs treated in this manner are perfectly 
clean inside and offer no inducements to insects to harbor within, a 
thing they will surely do in eggs prepared in a slovenly manner. Hay- 
ing blown all the water out of the egg, take a soft cloth and wipe it 
dry, removing any foreign matter that may be adhering to it, taking 
care, however, not to rub off the number you put on it when collect- 
