KILLING POULTRY 317 
inside of the skull, and into the deep tissue, where they are quite 
safe from the killer’s knife. I, then, these large veins are to be sev- 
ered, the cut must be made far enough back to reach them before 
they penetrate the bones of the skull. On the other, hand,: if the cut 
is made too far back and over the edge of the skull, as will be dis- 
cussed in connection with Fig. 66, B, much of the blood will settle in 
the loose tissue of the neck cad of running out of the mouth, 
thereby clogging the vessels and preventing pomplebe bleeding, as 
well as making unsightly discolored areas on the neck near the head. 
It is better to make one cut as shown in this plate rather than to 
cut the “ bridge” in the middle or to cut each side vein separately, 
since this sometimes results in the clotting of the blood at the ends 
of the veins before the bleeding is completed. 
ANATOMY OF THE SKULL 
From what has been said concerning the necessity of cutting far 
back in order to reach the point desired, it will be seen that it is 
necessary to know something of the position and shape of the bones 
of the chicken’s skull and their relation to the external parts of the 
head. This information is given in Fig. 66, B. Dotted lines 
around the drawing of the skull show the position of wattles, comb, 
ete. In this sketch, too, is shown clearly the length of the chicken’ s 
jaw, as before mentioned, Its hinge will be found on the head of 
the live bird just below the ear. Still farther back there is a 
U-shaped depression in the skull into which fits the upper part of the 
spinal column. The spine is not shown in the sketch, but the bridge 
vein connecting the two large veins of the neck lies directly across the 
U-shaped depression. 
It can be seen by studying this drawing how far back the knife 
must go if the veins are to be cut at the angle, and it will also be ob- 
served that when they are cut in this position the knife will have a 
bony backing which will prevent it from going too deep, thereby 
obviating the spongy mass of blood in the neck tissues which was dis- 
cussed in connection with Fig. 66, A. This illustration also shows 
where the finkers can grasp the head of the chicken firmly and yet 
not press against the soft parts of the neck. Just above the angle of 
the jaw — that is, about at the chicken’s ear — there is a smooth, 
strong area of bone large enough to support the thumb on one side 
and the forefinger on the other, and this is where the head should be 
held while killing. 
