Lost neat thing

I read somewhere recently a piece not primarily about eggs, which in passing used a word or words describing how they are stored, or how birds arrange them in nests (??), that distinguished the small end from the big end.  The word or term began with a p or a ph ("pinning"?).  I know it's likely hopeless, and Google yields nothing to my queries, but more outre questions have found answers fromthe Smarty Pants Brigade.