202 The Bird 



of blood are found when a bird dies of fright, which oc- 

 curs more often than in any other class of animals. Sports- 

 men have fired at a bird, missed it completely, and yet 

 have seen it drop dead as suddenly as if it had received 

 the full charge. In captivity, herons succumb more 

 frequently to fright apoplexy than other birds. When 

 we assume the care of any creature, bird or beast, we 

 should treat it as a timid child, and the person who moves 

 quietly but unhesitatingly will win the confidence of 

 w^ild creatures much sooner than when he alarms them' 

 by sudden motions, or arouses their suspicions by jerky 

 half-hearted approaches. 



There are twenty-four nerves given off in pairs from 

 the brain, which pass out through minute holes in the 

 skull, and energize eye, ear, tongue, and other organs. 

 Each of these has an individual name, and as the}" are 

 homologous with similar nerves in ourselves, the same 

 name is retained, such as the olfactory, or that leading 

 to the nostril; and the pathetic, the function of which 

 is to control the obliquely raising eye-muscle, producing 

 a pathetic expression, although it must be confessed that 

 the effect of this in the immobile face of a bird is not 

 especially affecting. 



Back of the cerebellum is a thickening of the spinal 

 cord, and after again narrowing it enters the bones of the 

 neck and back, as the true spinal cord. At the base of 

 the neck and near the thigh- joints this cord increases 

 in size, large nerves being given off at these places to the 

 wings and legs. It terminates in a fine white thread. 



