34 



The greatest difficulty you will have to encounter with, is when the birds have 

 set their full time, viz. the seventeenth day from the laying the last egg, and when 

 you place it to your ear a sharp crackhng noise is heard from within the shell, 

 by the bird endeavouring to extricate itself, and yet the egg is not sprung, or the 

 least rise on the shell to shew you where the beak lies ; under these circumstances 

 I would advise you to put it back for an hour, in the hope that it will become 

 visible where the beak lies, and when you examine the egg again, if you can 

 perceive the rise where the beak lies, pick off a little of the shell on that part to 

 let the young one have air. On the contrary, should it so happen that you 

 cannot by, any possibility ^scover where the beak is, and placing the egg to your 

 ear, you believe that it doft not make so brisk or sharp a crackling noise as before, 

 it is a certain sign that the bird is becoming more weakly, that its short beak 

 cannot by any possibility reach to puncture the shell, and that it will be dead in a 

 short time, if it does not immediately receive air ; under these circumstances the 

 young Fancier must make a small hole, to the best of his judgment, where he 

 supposes the beak lies. 



Of the two evils — "A little too Fast, or a little too Slow,'' I should advise you 

 to choose the little too Fast ; but, remember, I said " little," and the better to rivet it 

 on your mind, would say " very little." The greater part of this trouble may be 

 avoided by a little care on the part of the Fancier, by recollecting the " seventeenth 

 day," and letting the birds have good warm nests, which will greatly assist in 

 hatching the eggs; but with regard to the particularly short-faced birds, whose 

 beaks cannot by any possibility reach the shell, it is otherwise, and no fault of the 

 Fancier, He must pay great attention, by observing the eggs that are hatching, 

 to endeavour to ascertain where the beak lies, and when he is necessitated to 

 puncture a hole in the shell of an egg where the beak is not visible, he should use 

 the greatest caution. 



It will not answer to put an egg into your mouth that is much chipped, or 

 more properly speaking, a little smashed, owing to the old birds having set too 

 heavy on the eggs, and the blood within will cause the shell to adhere so tight 

 to the bird ; in this case the young Fancier must exercise his judgment, how 

 far he can judiciously and with care (where the smashed shell is dry) pick it off. 

 Again where a bird has sprung the shell, which is always where the beak Kerf, 

 and the bird appears fixed so tight in the shell that it cannot move about, take 

 a drop of sweet oil, after picking off the shell, if not already off, passing it between 

 the head and the shell, by which means it will be greatly assisted in extricating 

 itself, and many a valuable bird may be thus saved. The cause of my writing 

 thus much on this subject is, that if you are not careful you will lose the birds 

 most desired to be saved, as my experience teaches me, that if the bird to be 

 hatched on the last day (that is the seventeenth from the laying of the last egg) 

 is not out of the shell by the eighteenth day, it must be under particular circum- 

 stances that I would leave it there so long ; I should not expect to see it out alive. 

 But this requires great judgment. To the best of my recollection, I never beard 

 the bird alive, in the shell, more than twenty-four hours, or so long ; and if the 

 beak does not puncture the shell — or you, to let in a little air, the bird is suffocated 

 in the shell. 



There are Fanciers who take the eggs from the Almond two or three days before 

 hatching, and place them under a pair of their feeders — such as baldheads or 

 beards which set closer, consequently hatching sharper than the Almonds. It is 

 done by placing the eggs of the Almonds under the baldheads or beards, and vice. 

 aej-M ; and when the Almonds eggs are hatched, then exchange again. At the 

 same time, it does not follow that their soft meat, or food, is up; although they 

 have set their time— seventeen days. It sometimes happens that their soft food 

 does not come on for two or three days after ; nevertheless, you must get them 

 fed from somewhere, otherwise they will perish. It would be uncharitable in me 

 to expect the young Fancier will know all at once ; experience keeps a dear school, 



