72 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



I was amazed to discover that her trouble was an 

 egg so large that she could not deposit it. Then 

 I knew exactly what to do because I once had a 

 female canary in this same condition. I recalled 

 also that on two occasions I had seen my mother 

 operate on a hen for the same trouble. One end 

 of the egg was exposed for perhaps one fourth of 

 its surface. I took the small oil can from my para- 

 phernalia and dropped a drop of oil on the exposed 

 shell of the egg to soften the expanded parts as 

 much as possible. Then, holding the bird firmly, 

 I pierced the shell of the egg and broke it up with 

 a hatpin so that it could be easily ejected. I 

 then carried the bird down to the river and gave 

 her water. In a few minutes, she was sufficiently 

 recovered to perch on a small twig, and in less than 

 five minutes she felt so much better that she flew 

 away. I have no doubt that the next morning 

 she began to deposit the remainder of her eggs in 

 safety. 



This is a thing that I have known to occur twice 

 among birds and twice among poultry. Very 

 frequently an egg is so large for a young hen in her 

 first laying that it is deposited completely striped 

 with her blood. Often, very large hen eggs prove 

 to be. double yolked. A few times I have seen a 

 blood-stained egg in the nest of a bird, while 

 almost without exception the first egg placed in 

 a nest is noticeably larger than the others, and 

 the last is smaller. I know, through years of ex- 



