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When you are going your round at six o'clock in the evening to see if eggs are 

 laid, observe at the same time the eggs that you expect to be hatched on that day; 

 ifthey_are not sprung or chipped, place the egg to your ear, and if you hear a brisk 

 cracklmg noise within, put the eggs into your moutli, one after the other, and well 

 saturate them with your spittle, repeat this, and it is to be hoped as the shell dries 

 and becomes brittle that it will burst and let out a little wonder! I particularly 

 cautioned you to know the day the eggs were to hatch, and that without doubt. 

 If I was in your aviary or loft with you in the evening, and you showed me a pair 

 of eggs that you believed were to hatch that day or the following day, if these eggs 

 had not sprung or chipped, and on putting the eggs to my ear did not hear so 

 brisk a noise in the shell, I should conclude it TOs to-morrow. It is said 

 to-morrow never comes, but it comes a day too late for you when you find the two 

 birds dead in their shells. I am convinced that better head and beak birds have 

 perished in the shell than ever were hatched, the reason is the amazingly short- 

 faced bird cannot reach the shell with its beak, and perishes in the shell, if the 

 judgment of the Fancier does not extricate it ; while, on the contrary, the bird 

 that only comes out to be killed by a good Fancier, (I allude to the rough long- 

 faced bird),_ soon sticks its beak through the shell, and extricates itself. 



Owing to my being pressed for time in preparing this Treatise for publication, I 

 neglected entering into my register the days on which the eggs ought to be 

 hatched, and which has given me both trouble and loss. I will give you two 

 instances of this : — On looking at the eggs, that I knew by my experience were 

 near hatching, I discovered an egg with a large hole in it, the bird alive, strong, 

 and hardy, I considered it was to all appearance time it was out of the shell, I 

 gently dented the shell of the egg all round with my finger nail, it bled profusely, 

 and I placed it back in the nest pan with the other egg, which was addled. At 

 four o'clock next morning I looked to see if the young bird had extricated itself 

 from the shell, the blood had caused the broken shell to adhere closely, and my 

 opinion is, that the parent birds had set heavily, so that it appeared to me as 

 though the bird and shell were jammed together, and the bird apparently dead. 

 I took it to the light, and the fresh air caused the bird to open its mouth, I then 

 extricated it from the shell, but the bird only lived a few hours. In this case 

 i considered that I was a little too fast. In the evening of the same day, on 

 looking, at the eggs that I considered were near hatching, and placing some to my 

 ear, I found one egg with the young one within making a sharp crackling noise, 

 this egg not being sprung or in the slightest degree chipped, I could noUperceive 

 where the beak was placed, and recollecting that I condemned myself a few hours 

 before for being too fast, placed the egg back, and at four o'clock the next 

 morning, on again placing the egg to my ear, all was quiet and has remained so 

 ever since. I then blamed myself for being too slow. I would caution you 

 against being too fast or too slow, and my advice to you is to " Remember the 

 Seventeenth " day from laying the last egg. I lost these two birds from a little 

 neglect, not having entered in the book the day on which the eggs should have 

 been hatched, owing to my time being so much occupied as before alluded to. Had 

 I known for certain, that in the first case I have mentioned it was only the 

 " sixteenth " day from laying the last egg, I might have been more cautious how 

 I dented the shell, and in the second case, if I had known that it was the 

 " eighteenth " day from the laying the last egg, I would not have hesitated in 

 breaking off a small portion of the shell, where to the best of my judgment the 

 beak lies, to let in a little air. 



The idea struck me of communicating to you how many hours a bird will live in 

 the shell without being sprung, chipped, or a small hole made in the shell to let in 

 air. I am fearful that the Printer will require this part before I shall be able to 

 define it to my own satisfaction, but I am convinced that it is not long before, or 

 otherwise the bird will be suffocated in the shell ; but a bird may live comparatively 

 speaking a considerable time in the shell, where the beak has protruded through 

 tihe shell and obtains air. 

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