BLOWING EGGS. 103 
through the blow-pipe, or with the syringe. Blowing eggs is 
arather fatiguing process— more so than it might seem; the 
cheek muscles soon tire, and the operator actually becomes 
‘“blown” himself before long. The operation had better be 
done over a basin of water, both to receive the contents, and 
to catch the egg if it slip from the fingers. The membrane 
lining the shell should be removed if possible. It may be 
seized by the edge around the hole, with the forceps, and 
drawn out, or picked out with a bent pin. Eggs.that have 
been incubated of course offer difficulty, in proportion to the 
size of the embryo. The hole may be drilled, as before, but 
it must be larger; and as the drill is apt to split a shell after 
it has bored beyond a-certain size of hole, it is often well to 
prick, with a fine needle, a circular series of minute holes 
almost touching, and then remove the enclosed circle of shell. 
This must be very carefully done, or the needle will indent or 
crack the shell, which, it may be remembered, grows more 
brittle towards the time of hatching. Well formed embryos 
cannot be got bodily through any hole that can be made in an 
egg: they must be extracted piecemeal. They may be cut to 
pieces with the slender scissors introduced through the hole, 
and the fragments be picked out with the forceps, hooked out, 
or blown out. No embryo should be forced through a hole too 
small; there is every probability that the shell will burst at 
the critical moment. When emptied and rinsed, eggs should 
be gently wiped dry, and set hole downward on blotting paper 
to drain. Broken eggs may be neatly mended, sometimes with 
a film of collodion, or a bit of tissue paper and paste, or the 
edges may be simply stuck together with any adhesive sub- 
stance. Even when fragmentary a rare egg is worth preserv- 
ing. Eggs should ordinarily be left: empty; indeed, the only 
case in which any filling is admissible is that of a defective 
specimen to which some slight solidity can be imparted with 
cotton. It is unnecessary even to close up the hole. It is 
best, on all accounts, to keep eggs in sets, a ‘‘set” being the 
natural clutch, or whatever less number were taken from a 
nest. The most scrupulous attention must be paid to accu- 
