7198 Birds. 



unnecessary to add, except for the benefit of beginners, that the mani- 

 pulation of the different instruments requires extreme caution, but a 

 few trials will give the collector the practice necessary for success. 

 Eggs should never be written on until the shells are perfectly dry, or 

 the ink will be found to run, and the inscription will be rendered 

 illegible. Eggs with chalky shells, such as those of the anis {Croto- 

 phagd)^ gannets and cormorants (Pelecanidce), and others may be con- 

 veniently marked by incising with a pin or the point of an egg-drill, 

 so also those of the ptarmigans {Lagopus), care being taken in this 

 case to select the dark-coloured patches to write upon. The inscriptions 

 should always be placed on the same side as the hole or holes, and con- 

 fined within the smallest limits possible. For drilling the hole or holes 

 the side presenting the least characteristic markings should be selected. 

 Eggs that are very hard sat upon, of whatever size they be, should 

 be treated in the following manner, which is a method superior to any 

 other known at present to the writer for preventing injury arising to 

 them. The annexed engraving (fig. 21) shows a piece of paper, a 

 number of which when gummed on to an egg, one over the other, and 

 left to dry, strengthen the shell in such a manner 

 that the instruments above described can be 

 introduced through the aperture in the middle and 

 worked to the best advantage, and thus a fully 

 formed embryo may be cut up, and the pieces 

 extracted through a very moderately sized hole ; 

 the number of thicknesses required depends of 

 J... 21 course greatly upon the size of the egg, the length 



of time it has been incubated, and the stoutness 

 of the shell and the paper. Five or six is the least number that it is 

 safe to use. Each piece should be left to dry before the next is 

 gummed on. The slits in the margin cause them to set pretty smoothly, 

 which will be found very desirable ; the aperture in the middle of 

 each may be cut out first, or the whole series of layers may be drilled 

 through when the hole is made in the egg. For convenience sake 

 the papers may be prepared already gummed, and moistened when 

 put on (in the same way that adhesive postage labels are used). 

 Doubtless patches of linen or cotton cloth would answer equally well. 

 When the operation is over a slight application of water (especially if 

 warm) through the syringe will loosen them so that they can be easily 

 removed, and they can be separated from one another and dried to 

 serve another time. The size represented in the sketch is that suitable 

 for an egg of moderate dimension, such as that of a common fowl. 



