A Boon for Oologists
A BOON FOR OOLOGISTS.
Editor CONDOR :-
A saturated solution of cooking soda is quite effective for removing embryos. As an illustration of its work, last night at 6 P. M. I found a Black-throated Gray Warblers ’ nest with four eggs, certainly not less than threefourths incubated, the shell being so soft that the drill sank into it. I put in as much soda as the eggs would hold and changed it once during the evening. This morning they were reasonably easily blown before 8 A. M., two perfect specimens, the holes being not much larger than for fresh eggs ; the other two have a small nick in each hole but are perfectly strong. The embryo was shaved off with a sharp knife as it was forced out. It was equally successful on Northwest Crow I-S, California Jay 1-6 and Oregon Junco ¼ It is probably too late for many to try it this year, but possibly you can test it. The principal advantage over other chemicals is that it does the work quickly.
CHAS. W. BOWLES.
Waldo, Oregon, June 15,1991
[We were happily enabled to test Mr. Bowles’ process on a badly incubated set of Calaveras Warbler, the results being a pleasant surprise. By blowing out the softer parts of the embryos and filling the eggs with a saturated solution of soda, all blew readily on the following morning. As Mr. Bowles points out, the merit of using soda is in its quick results, thns enabling one to blow the egg before the shell has softened.-ED:]
