32 HOW TO DETERMINE THE SEX OF A BIRD. 
corresponding position of the opposite side, but this is very short. 
Reference to the figures should make this quite clear. As it is often 
of the greatest importance to determine the sex, and there may be 
still some uncertainty after the above directions have been followed, 
place the body in a dish of salt and water — salt is advisable, but 
not absolutely necessary — hold it down on one side, and look into the 
cavity through the cut ; the oviduct will probably now float up quite 
separate from the intestines. 
In the male there can generally be traced, from the testes back- 
wards to the end of the gut, a pair of neatly and closely coiled tubes on 
either side of the body, of a glistening white colour (fig. 4, vd.). 
These, in the absence of distinct testes, will serve to identify the sex 
as certainly as the presence of an oviduct in the female. 
Unless the sexual organs can be recognized without any doubt, it 
is better not to mark the sex on the label. If, however, it has been 
certainly determined, write it down at once. $ is the sign for male, 
and ? for female. 
