Our  Canaries 
examine  them  again.  If  they  still  show  no  external  signs  of  "pipping,"  and 
the  weather  has  been  moderately  warm  during  the  previous  fortnight,  the  eggs 
should  be  immersed  in  warm  water  for  a  minute  or  so  (as  described  in  a 
previous  chapter)  and  their  behaviour  closely  watched,  when  the  presence  of 
live  chicks  will  be  unmistakably  indicated  by  the  motions  of  the  shells  in 
which  they  are  enclosed.  At  this  stage  we  would  advise  no  further 
interference.  Return  all  to  the  nest  until  the  following  morning,  and  if  no 
further  progress  has  been  made  by  that  time,  the  immersion  may  be 
repeated,  and  then  in  the  evening  a  small  opening  may  be  made  in  the  top 
of  the  large  end,  just  enough 
to  ascertain  the  position  of  the 
imprisoned  bird's  beak  ;  then 
slightly  scratch  the  shell  from 
a  spot  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  tip  of  the  beak  about  a 
quarter  way  round  its  smallest 
circumference  in  each  direc- 
tion. The  shell  will  then  be 
brought  to  the  point  of  sepa- 
ration for  one-half  of  its  cir- 
cumference   with    the  bird's 
IIahcnpluckshcryou,.gor.csastripof  cardbcard         ^^^^  ^^^^^^ 
should  be  run  through  the  wires  oJ  the  nursery  cage. 
weakened  portion,  which  should 
enable  it  to  lift  off  the  top  of   the  shell  with  the  minimum  of  force. 
Leave  the  chick,  or  the  hen,  to  complete  the  process.  Never  turn  out 
a  chick  bodily,  save  in  the  most  exceptional  cases  when  it  appears  quite 
dry  within  the  shell.  Even  this  much  assistance  we  strongly  advise  being 
given  only  as  a  last  resource- — when  death  in  the  shell  seems  otherwise 
quite  inevitable.  In  such  case  the  assistance  rendered  will  reduce  the 
chances  of  death  by  the  merest  fraction,  and  is  therefore  justifiable.  But  so 
long  as  there  remains  the  slightest  chance  of  an  egg  hatching  naturally 
all  interference,  beyond  an  immersion  in  warm  water  during  warm,  dry 
weather  is  not  only  wholly  inexcusable,  but  calculated  to  reduce  the  chances 
of  survival  materially. 
THE    EGGS    THAT    DO    NOT  HATCH. 
Some  confusion  exists  in  reference  to  the  terms  employed  to  describe  eggs 
that  do  not  prove  fruitful.  Technically  there  are  but  two  types — those  that 
have  been  duly  impregnated  with  the  germ  of  the  male,  and  are  accord- 
ingly rendered  fertile,  or  capable  of  producing  a  complete  living  structure 
of  their  kind  ;  and  those  that,  not  having  been  so  impregnated,  possess  no 
vital  germ,  and  lack  the  vital  principle  which  springs  into  life  in  response 
