1885.] PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. G83 



BIRDS. 



In preparing a bird for a skeleton a little more care must be used 

 than is necessary with a quadruped, the bones being lighter and more 

 easily cut or broken. 



The wings terminate in very small, pointed bones, and there is a simi- 

 lar bone — corresponding to the thumb of mammals — hidden in a tuft 

 of feathers on the bend of the wing. 



Fig. 6.— Portion of right wing of Great Horned Owl, seen from below. J?, Radius ; 

 III, First, second, and third fingers ; «, Radialo ; c, Ulnaro ; osp, Os prominens. 



V, nina ; I, II, 



■ It is a good plan to leave this tuft untouched, as well as the outer- 

 most two or three wing feathers, so as to lessen the risk of removing 

 any of these little bones with the skin. 



Other parts requiring special attention are the slender points on the 

 under side of the neck vertebrae, those projecting backward from the 

 ribs, and the last bone of the tail. 



It frequently occurs in birds that many of the tendons become ossi- 

 fied, as they do in the leg of a turkey. Look out for such on the under 

 side of the neck, in the legs and wings, and along the sides of the back, 

 and do not tear oli' the muscles as you would if preparing a skin. 



Considerable flesh may be left on the neck and back and a thin coat 

 of arsenical soap will serve to keep out the Dermestes which would 

 otherwise attack these places. 



The hyoid, or bones supporting 

 the tongue and attached to the 

 windpipe, should be saved, as 

 should also the windpipe itself 

 whenever, as in many ducks, it 

 has bony structures developed in 

 part of its length. 



In many birds, and especially in birds of prey, there 

 is a ring of bones surrounding the pupil of the eye. It 

 is therefore best — unless you are an expert — not to 

 remove the eyeball, but to simply puncture it to allow 

 the escape of its fluid contents. 



Kemove the brain carefully. 



Wash and brush the skeleton if time allows, and in 



Tongue-bones or hyoid of a Great Blue 



Fig. 8.— Eye-bones, 

 sclerotals, of a Great 

 Blue Heron. 



