VARIOUS HINTS ON UATCHING. 37 



to crack tlie sliell with a pin as near the point of the beak as 

 can be guessed ; or, if after the shell is sprung no progress 

 seems to be made for some time, the crack should be gently 

 extended round the egg. This ■will save many a young one j and 

 if, on the other hand, they really should die in the shell, it is 

 very desirable to know it, in order that another young one from 

 some other pair, or a pair, if any want shifting, may be given 

 the parents to feed off their soft meat, and save them from 

 "going sick" with it, whioli is apt to disorder the whole system, 

 and will sometimes upset their breeding for the entire season. 

 Fortunately, most pigeons will take to either a single young one 

 or a pair under such circumstances, whether newly hatched or a 

 few days old. 



In very hot or dry weather it will be desirable to sprinkle 

 the shelves on which the nest-pans stand with water, in order 

 to keep the eggs from becoming too dry ; though pigeons are 

 not so subject to this mishap as poultry, nor is it proper to 

 sprinkle their eggs, as is usual in summer with those of the 

 latter. The fertility of the eggs can be ascertained after a few 

 days in the same manner as usual with those of fowls, by hold- 

 ing them before a candle, when the fertile ones appear dark, 

 the barren eggs as clear as at first. The eggs very rarely perish 

 from cold. When eggs are found barren under valuable birds, 

 it is best, if possible, to exchange them for fertile eggs laid 

 within a day or two of the same time by coarser birds, and 

 thus avoid disturbing the system of the more highly-bred ones. 

 If none such can be had, it is best to take the barren eggs 

 away when sat upon about ten days, before the soft meat comes 

 on, and to keep the birds separate for about ten days more, to 

 keep them from going to nest so soon ; they will then gladly 

 pair again, and generally go on with little or no harm. Or 

 they may be allowed to sit out their time, and a young one, a 

 few days old, given them at the proper time to feed them off. 



For pigeons differ further from fowls in that they feed their 



