CHAPTER IV 



THE SKULL 



BIRD'S skull has been called a ''poem in bone- 

 its architecture is the frozen music of morphol- 

 ^ ogy; in its mutely eloquent lines may be traced 

 the rhythmic rhymes of the myriad amoebiform animals 

 which constructed the noble edifice when they sang 

 together." We should all "be able to whistle some bars 

 of the cranial song — the ptery go-palatine bar at least." 



We perhaps know that there are twenty-eight bones 

 in our own head, and if we attempt to dissect the skull of 

 a fish we will find many more, but at first glance the 

 skull of our chicken seems to be composed of but one 

 solid bone. Indeed, if we except the lower jaw and a 

 few others, such as the two little bones which unite it 

 to the skull, the entire cranium is soldered together, and 

 the lines of junction obliterated. In young birds these 

 seams are more or less visible, although the soldering 

 process begins very early. 



The origin of the skull is wrapped in obscurity, and 



neither the student of fossil bones, nor of those beneath 



the skin of living creatures, nor vet the diligent watcher 



of the mysterious panorama of life in the egg, can tell 



us very much, although many theories have been sug- 



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