24 
mentioned above, I sowed it again, and with a kind of success ; 
there was not a single fly, but neither was there a turnip. No- 
thing discouraged at this, I tried again and again, and I found 
that, without weakening the brine, if the seed was only kept in 
it three hours, there were no beetles, but yet the seed came up 
as well as ever. I cannot say that I never find beetles on the 
young plants, but I never have a crop destroyed, or even seri- 
ously injured by them. 
54 Birds’ Eggs. Ornithology, or the consideration and descrip- 
tion of birds, like other branches of natural history, has of late 
occupied increased attention. That the works of creation have 
generally not made the impressions they should do upon us, is 
chiefly owing to the extraordinary anomaly, as Mr. Drummond 
justly observes, that natural history forms no necessary part of 
the education of young or old. One part of its illustration is 
by the eggs of birds; and these, with their various tints and 
speckling, when arranged under their respective names, form 
a cabinet, indispensable to those who collect the birds them- 
selves; and interesting to every observer of nature. Their shapes 
merit a remark. This is not an exact oval, but generally, one 
end is smaller than the other, whereby they occupy less space 
in the nest, than if they were truly oval bodies of the same di- 
mensions. This peculiar arrangement has been thought to exist, 
more or less, as the number of eggs, in proportion to the size 
of the bird, require the economy of space. We give, from the 
Natural History Magazine, the sketch of an instrument, by 
which their contents may be readily extracted, without the usual 
danger of breaking, and by a single perforation only. 
Make a small pin-hole at the side of the egg, large enough to 
admit the point of the pipe, which is to be one-sixth part of an 
inch; then apply your mouth to the entrance of the pipe, and 
suck as hard as you can, when immediately the contents of the 
egg rise, and are lodged in the ball of the tube, without pro- 
ceeding higher towards the mouth. Next, blow the contents 
from the pipe, and suck a little clean water up into the ball, and 
blow it into the egg; shake the egg in your hand for about a 
minute, and, applying the point of the tube, withdraw the water, 
which leaves the egg perfectly clean. 
