192 Bird - Lore 



exerted upon the muscles, causing them to relax, which allows the broken 

 ends of the bone to sUp into place. This stretching of the muscles checks the 

 spasm excited by the injury and thus relieves the pain. 



Since Crows have but a rudimentary fibula, the tibia is the supporting 

 structure of the leg, and in a break of this bone the conditions are similar to 

 those that occur in a break of a human femur. 



In the case of our Crow there was a great over-riding of the fragments of 

 the tibiae, so traction was indicated. To secure it we took a box about eighteen 

 inches long and twelve wide. Across the middle of this box we tacked for six 

 inches a piece of cloth pulled tight. Two holes were cut at such points that the 

 legs and thighs of the Crow hung down through them, while the body rested 

 upon the tight cloth as upon a stretcher. In a reserve piece of this cloth, in 

 front, a third hole was cut, through which the Crow's head and neck were 

 passed. This piece of cloth was then turned backward over the Crow's wings 

 and tacked down; thus the Crow was restrained above and supported below. 

 Stockings of cloth were sewed about the bird's tarsi, and to the tops of the 

 stockings strings were attached, which led backward and out through holes 

 in the back of the box. Weights were now attached to the ends of the strings, 

 and when they became tightened the broken fragments of the tibiae were drawn 

 into their normal position. A coarse string for a foot-rest was also drawn 

 tightly across the box, some distance below the bird's body. We did not dis- 

 turb the dried blood clots over the wounds, trusting that nature had protected 

 the injured parts from infection. 



The bird made but little fuss, and after he had become quiet a shelf for food 

 was placed within easy reach. Two hours after the extension, as it is called, 

 had been applied, he drank water and ate some meat. For a few days he did 

 very well, and then suddenly died. At autopsy, besides the injuries to the 

 legs, we found a punctured wound of the abdomen, causing general peri- 

 tonitis. We feel that if it had not been for this wound we might have saved 

 him, and we recommend this apparatus, as set forth in the drawing, if any 

 one should have an opportunity to apply it. 



The next bird we found was a very fine male Red-tailed Hawk. This, 

 again, was in the fall; and since, to my knowledge, no Red-tails nest in our 

 vicinity — northern New Jersey — the bird probably was a migrant. He was 

 alive but unable to fly when we found him. He died the next day. We found 

 that this bird also had been shot; as in the case of the Crow, a single pellet 

 penetrating the abdomen had caused peritonitis. 



Last fall we came upon a tree, just cut down. In a hollow limb the choppers 

 had found a Barred Owl. On examination we found that the bird had a broken 

 femur, again a compound fracture, as in the case of the Crow. The break 

 was so near the joint that there was no displacement of the bone. It is hard to 

 explain why the Owl did not leave the tree as soon as the chopping com- 

 menced, but since the fracture was recent it seemed almost certain that his 



