INTRODUCTION. 11 
Norr.— Take care in making a hole not to injure any mark- 
ings; and, when blowing, place beneath a pail or basin contain- 
ing a few inches of water to catch the egg, should it slip. An 
ego when full is very easily broken, but when blown may often 
be dropped without injury on to a carpet or the like. One with 
the contents entirely removed floats in water with only about a 
third or less of the shell beneath the level of the surface. A 
thin-shelled egg may be held to the light to ensure emptiness. 
§ J. Eggs may be cleaned with a soft, wet rag, dipped in 
tooth-powder, or by the careful use of an ink-eraser (with a 
flat, pointed, steel blade), though the latter may injure the 
surface. Certain eggs (but none of those described in this 
volume) are calcareous, and their chalky shells cannot be safely 
cleaned. Others, however, have a certain ‘* bloom,” like that 
of a grape, which can be washed off. , 
To mend an egg, if broken into bits of manageable size, 
take one a little smaller and of no value, wet it, or coat it 
with a very delicate varnish, and place on it the bits of shell 
in their proper positions, so that they shall fit together. For 
large eggs, a mould of putty, if carefully shaped, may be used 
instead. Cracks may be brushed with collodion. The common 
method of glueing bits together with mucilage and thin paper 
is often clumsy or dangerous, and, even if successful, generally 
ruins the fair appearance of any specimen. 
§K. Place your eggs, when blown, promptly in your 
cabinet, and have some means of identifying them afterwards. 
Labels should be altogether avoided, as they greatly mar the 
beauty of a collection, and any writing on the shell should be 
condensed and placed on the under side, where it will be in- 
