and whether the presence of artificial eggs would significantly affect predation rates. 
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. Nests were placed in, or at the base of trees, where each tree is more than 15m away from any other selected tree. Arboreal nests were mounted to trees using steel wire where necessary, and were all accessible via branches capable of supporting the weight of predators. No attempts were made to disguise, or hide the nests either at ground or arboreal levels.Nests were considered to be predated if they were missing, broken or otherwise interfered with (e.g bite marks).
The pilot study found no significant difference between ground and arboreal nests (χ2 = 0.20991, ρ = 0.6468) indicating the full study can use ground and arboreal nests, and that the arboreal nests are being predated. 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.