ON CERTAIN HUMANITIES 279 



heaps on the Maine coast, many bones, including; 

 those of the wild turkey and the great auk, and, 

 here at Ipswich, the bones of deer and fox and 

 seal, of wading birds and ducks and of many 

 fishes. The larger bones had all been split u{) 

 for the marrow, and the smaller bones had their 

 spongy ends missing as if they had been eaten by 

 dogs. 



One discovery led to an amusing error. In a 

 shell heap many years ago I unearthed or ''un- 

 shelled," one might say, what apeared to be the 

 upper section of a bird's bill, but it had an un- 

 usual polish, foreign to any of our birds' bills. 

 In shape and size it most closely resembled that 

 of a royal tern. I took it to several specialists 

 at Harvard, and each repudiated it in turn. 

 The ornithologist said it was not a bird's bill, 

 the mammologist that it was no part of a four- 

 legged creature, and the expert in crabs said it 

 was no part of a crab. I therefore sent it to 

 Washington, the fountain head of all knowl- 

 edge, and word came back that it was the bill 

 of a royal tern, certified to by several well-known 

 ornithologists. Fortunately I did not rush into 



