Artificial plasticine eggs are very malleable and allows for the identification of predators through bite marks, however some studies have shown that the olfactory cues given off by plasticine eggs can lead to an overestimation of mammalian nest predation \cite{Trnka_2008}.
Each nest contained 1 quail egg, and half contained an additional plasticine egg, with half of the nests placed in the forest edge and half in the forest interior.
The experiment however did find a significant difference in predation rates between nests with and without the plasticine eggs (χ2 = 17.681, ρ < 0.0001), possibly due to the olfactory cues the plasticine was emitting, indicating either a different material for artificial eggs should be used, or steps should be taken to reduce the smell. It should also be noted that every day of the trial, at least 1 plasticine egg was completely eviscerated preventing predator identification.