A Short Rest
A few seconds later the top half of the shell flips free, and Dan quickly takes it and removes it from the nest, leaving the chick still sitting in the bottom half of its shell. It will rest for awhile yet before attempting the final stage of hatching - rolling out of the lower end of the shell.
Meanwhile, at the far end of the cage, Dan is disposing of the tell-tale evidence of a hatching chick. This is an instinct left from the wild, to help guard the nest from predators, who would be all too aware that pieces of eggshell would mean a tiny, tender nestling somewhere nearby...
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