50 EEGISTRATION AND LABELLING. 



hand respectively, stretch with reasonable force, getting one 

 wing-tip flush with one end of the ruler, and see how much the 

 other wing-tip reaches. With large birds pull away as hard 

 as you please, and use the table, floor or side of the room ; 

 mark the points and apply tape-line. "Length of wing :" Dis- 

 tance from the angle formed at the (carpus) bend of the wing 

 to the end of the longest primary. Get it with compasses for 

 small birds. In birds with a convex wing do not lay the tape- 

 line over the curve, but under the wing in a straight line. 

 This measurement is the one called, for short, " the wing." 

 "Length of tail:" Distance from the roots of the rectrices to 

 the end of the longest one. Feel for the pope's nose ; in either 

 a fresh or dried specimen there is more or less of a palpable 

 lump into which the tail feathers stick. Guess as near as you 

 can to the middle of this lump ; place the end of the ruler op- 

 posite the point and see where the tip of the longest tail 

 feather comes. "Length of bill:" Some take the curve of 

 the upper mandible ; others the side of the upper mandible 

 from the feathers ; others the gape, etc. I take the chord of 

 the culmen. Place one foot of the dividers on the culmen just 

 where the feathers end ; no matter whether the culmen runs 

 up on the forehead, or the frontal feathers run out on the cul- 

 men, and no matter whether the culmen is straight or curved. 

 Then with me the length of the bill is the shortest distance from 

 the point just indicated to the tip of the upper mandible ; 

 measure it with the dividers. In a straight bill of course it is 

 the length of the culmen itself; in a curved bill, however, it 

 is quite another thing. "Length of tarsus:" Distance be- 

 tween the joint of the tarsus with the leg above, and that with 

 the first phalanx of the middle toe below. Measure it ahvays 

 with dividers, and in front of the leg. "Length of toes:" 

 Distance in a straight line along the upper surface of a toe 

 is from the point last indicated to the root of the claw on top. 

 Length of toe is to be taken ivithout the claw, unless otherwise 

 specified. "Length of the claws:" Distance in a straight line 

 from the point last indicated to the tip of the claw. "Length 

 of head" is often a convenient dimension for comparison with 



