124 SEXUAL DIMORPHISM 



book in question there are many other remarks on surgical 

 treatment, too lengthy to be all quoted in full. The beaks 

 will not remain close-fitting after the age of three years, 

 the portion of the upper mandible which overhangs the lower 

 is therefore to be cut off level and carefully pared. The 

 beak is also manipulated in the nest-pan, in order to straighten 

 and lengthen it, the beak being gently straightened by the 

 fingers on "successive days. Some fanciers never allow the 

 eye-wattle to appear thick and ragged, but remove all the 

 offending portions. The eye-wattle often from excessive 

 growth forms a spout, that is, a fold under the eye, which 

 is stated to irritate the eye and cause a discharge, for which 

 it also forms a channel. It is recommended that the spout 

 should be cut off. The spout itself often owes its immediate 

 origin to another bird pecking at the wattle, and thereby 

 causing injury and inflammation. The following remarks 

 deserve to be quoted in full: "We certainly have seen a 

 very few large-eyed Carriers which never had a spout ; but 

 they are very few indeed, and many which are thought such 

 have simply been operated on early in life, as we have 

 already advised. We do so openly, as we do not wish to 

 lose the sight of nearly all our best birds, or think it wrong 

 to perform an operation which enables the subject to live 

 in comfort afterwards instead of misery: we openly and 

 avowedly recommend and practise it, and enter into the 

 matter here that the proper mode of procedure may be 

 known to all." After all this it is difficult to decide 

 whether surgery or selection has had most to do with the 

 evolution of the chief " points " of the Carrier. 



Another interesting remark in the same work is that 

 the progeny of young birds do not attain a proper develop- 

 ment of wattle, however " good " the parents may ultimately 

 become. Two parents over three years old produce more 

 wattle in the young. 



