i'I(;ku.\s and all Ai;()i:r i'jiem. oi 



SHIFTING EGGS AND YOUNG. 



AF'rEli marking the date of tlic laying of a pair of eggs, 

 look at them carefully the sixtli day afterwards. Hold 

 tliem in front of ycjur lamp, or take them to the siiu 

 and note their appearance. If they look clear and yello\¥, 

 tliey are infertile and will not hatch, but if they are inclined 

 to be opaque or if you can see little veins, they are ail right. 



Right here I want to give some advice that it will be well 

 to heed. 1 have spent years " helping" birds and I iind the 

 following the best plan, especially with young birds. I want 

 to preface this by the statement, that a young pair of mated 

 birds are much like a j'oung pair of house keepers; they 

 have lots to learn. 



If I Iind that a young pair have one fertile egg, I put away 

 the other and let them go on with one. If both are infertile 

 1 gat one egg from another jiair, mark it jdainly with the 

 pencil, make a pencil mem. in the loft register, and let them 

 hatch it. It is a wonderful helper in " steadying" a young- 

 pair, for the care of feeding after the long rest of hatching, 

 takes a great deal of the crankiness from them, and they 

 settle down. 



On the other hand, if you take the eggs away, it unsettles 

 them, and they are apt to rush to laying again, and the sec- 

 ond pair of eggs, (from the fact that the parents have had no 

 real rest,) are apt to be bad. When this youngster so hatch- 

 ed is banded, I credit it to the pair that laid the egg, so it 

 will be seen that there is no chance for any mistake. 



Here comes the beauty of mating all the birds on the same 

 day, for, if a pair has I)Oth young die in coming out of the 

 shell, or just after, there are always other nests out of which 

 young' can be borrowed. 



