COLLECTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 5:.! 



mid rinsed, egf^s should be gently wiped dry, and set hole downward on blofting-paper to 

 drain. 1 Broken eggs may be neatly mended, sometimes with a film of collodion, or a hit of 

 tissue paper and paste, or the edges may be simjdy stuck together M-ith any adhesive suT)Stance. 

 Even when fragmentary a rare egg is worth preserving. Eggs sliould firdinarily be left empty ; 

 indeed, the only case in which any filling is admissible is that of a defective specimen to wliich 

 some slight solidity can be imparted witli cottfin. It is unnecessary even to close up the hoh-. 

 It is best, on all accounts, to keep eggs in sets, a " set" being the natural clutch, or whatever 

 less number was taken from a nest. The most scrupulous attention must be paid to accurate, 

 complete, and permanent labelling. Scj important is this, that the undeniable defacing of a 

 spiecimen, by writing on it, is no offset to tlie advantages accruing from such fixity of record. 

 It is jiractically impossible to attach a label, as is done witli a bird-skin, and a loose label is 

 always in danger of being lost or displaced. Write on the shell, then, as many items as 

 possible ; if done neatly, on the side in whicli the hole was bored, at least one good " sliow side " 

 remains. An egg sliould always bear the same number as the parent, in the collector's 

 record. In a general collection, where separate ornith(ilogical and oological registers are kept, 

 identification of egg with parent is nevertheless readily secured, by making one the numerator 

 the other the denominator of a fraction, to be simjjly inverted in its respective application. 

 Thus, bird No. 4.56, and egg No. 123, are identified liy making the former -||f the latter ^|f . 

 All the eggs of a clutch should have the same number. If the shell be large enough, the name 

 of the species should l)e written on it ; if too snuiU, it should be accompanied by a label, and 

 may have the name indicated by a numlier referring to a. certain catalogue. According to my 

 " Checdc List," for example, "No. 1 " would indicate Turdus migratorhis. The date of collec- 

 tion is a highly desirable item; it may be abbreviated thus ; 3 | 6 | 82 means June 3, 1882. It 

 is well to have the egg authenticated by the collector's initials at least. Since "sets" of eggs 

 may lie broken up for distributions to other cabinets, yet permanent indication of the .size of 

 the clutch he wanted, it is well to have some method. A good one is to write the nu&ber of 

 the clutclr on each egg composing it, giving each egg of the set, moreover, its individual 

 uumljer. Supposing for example tlie clutch No. ^|f contained five eggs; one of them would 

 '"5 ttl I 5 I 1 • l^c next Iff I .5 ] 2, and so on. But it should be remembered that all such 

 arbitrary memoranda must be systematic, and be accompanied by a key. Eggs may be kept 

 in cabinets of shallow drawers in little pasteboard trays, each holding a set, and containing a 

 paper label on which various items that cannot be traced on the shell are written in full. 



' Heivforcing Vie Eggshell before Blowing. — Fig. B " slinwR a r)iece of paper, a number of which, when gummed 

 on to an egg, one over the other, and left io (Try. strengthen the sliell in snch 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 e.xtracted tlirough a very moderately 

 sized hole; the number of thicknesses required depends, of course, greatly upon the size 

 of the egg, the length of time it has been incubated, and the stoutness of the shell and 



o 



the paper. Five or six is tlie least number that it is safe to use. Each piece should bu .^ 

 left to dry before the next is gammed on. The slits in the margin cause them to set , ^ /""^ 

 pretty smoothly, which will be found very desirable; tlie aperture in the middle of each p=— ( ] 

 may be cut out first, or the whole series of layers may be drilled through when the hole ' — 

 is made in the Qgg. 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 clotli would answer equally well. "When the opera- 

 tion is over, a slight application of water (especially if warm) through the syringe will Fig. 8. Nat. size. 



loosen them so that they can be easily removed, and they can be separated from one 



another, and ilried to serve another time. Ttie size rei)resented in the sketch is that suitable for an egg of mod- 

 erate dimension, such as that of a common fowl. The most effectual way of adopting this method of emptying 

 eggs is by using very many layers of thin paper and pfenfy of (kick gum, but this is, of course, the most tedious. 

 Nevertheless, it is quite worth the trouble in the case of really rare specimens, and they will be none the worse for 

 operating upon from the delay of a few days caused by waiting for the gum to dry and harden. The naturalist 

 to whom this method first occurred has found it answer remarkably well in every case that it has been used, from 

 the egg of an eagle to that of a humming-bird, and among English oologists it has been generally adopted." 

 {A. Newton, in Smiths. Misc. Coll. 139, 18G0.) 



