284 On a few of the Diseases and Injuries in Birds. [April, 
trance of the prairie-dog burrow, where he sat, scarcely caring, 
apparently, whether he lived or died. Upon removing, when in 
my study, the skin of this owl, Iwas nota little astonished to 
find many of the organs absolutely displaced by “ wads” as large, 
- in some instances, as an almond, of a long hair-like worm, of a 
pale yellow color, the longest being about 6 c.c. in length. Col- 
lections of them in ‘the orbits forced the eyes outwards in this 
case, and a large roll of them occupied the upper third of the 
tracheo-cesophageal interspace, completely wedging the two tubes 
apart. 
Subsequently when the skinless cadaver was thrown aside upon 
my table, these parasites reared for half their lengths and waved 
to and fro, lending to the body an appearance as if some kind of 
a pale colored moss was growing from it. 
Exostoses not unfrequently occur, either on the shafts of some 
of the long bones, or upon the surfaces of the flat ones. I have 
before me a very pretty specimen where one of these bony out- 
growths occupies the angle of the carina in the sternum of a 
specimen of Eremophila alpesiris. It is nearly as large as a pea, 
and has a lobulated appearance, jutting forwards. 
Aneurismal tumors are sometimes to be seen; the sacs have the 
appearance of having existed for some space of time—in a few 
instances. 
Muscular atrophy, as far as my observations go, is of rather 
rare occurrence, although I have seen one good example in the 
muscles of the lower extremities of a specimen of Sturnella’ 
magna, There was no apparent cause for it upon fost mortem. 
The bird was very loath to take wing, and was killed on the 
ground, where his locomotion seemed good. 
The results of injuries and gun-shot wounds present many 
examples of interest, and objects for study, if anything, still more 
engaging. A few days ago I secured a female specimen of Ci- 
cus cyaneus var. hudsonius, the horny integuments of whose feet 
were the sites of many warty excrescences, having the color and 
general appearances of the parts they occupied. These bodies 
ranged in size from a duck shot to a small hazel nut. My diag- 
nosis was materially assisted in this case by finding a cactus thorn 
protruding a little beyond the surface of one or two of the warts, 
and this foreign body formed the nucleus of all of them. 
They were undoubtedly driven forcibly into the feet of this 
