Remarks on Facial Expression of Birds 
145 
the same defect. The taxidermist endeavors to round out the 
lids to such a degree that the delicate angles and contours re- 
sponsible for the eye’s expression are hopelessly lost. Es- 
pecially is this the case with the Shore-birds, whose usually very 
dark eyes are framed in delightfully shaped lids. In some cases 
the fore angle is quite acute, but in the greater number of spe- 
cies the rear angle is the smaller by far, and sometimes lower 
down in the head than the fore-angle. All these facts mean that 
the student or artist who would successfully paint or mount 
birds must know the facial expression of his subjects. The 
Woodcock’s rather droll expression is often imperfectly repre- 
sented, though it is almost impossible to lose utterly this ex- 
pression, due to the fact that the eye must be placed far back 
in the head if the anatomy of the creature is observed at all. 
Nine times out of ten, in mounted specimens, the beautiful nar- 
rowed eyes of the Lesser Yellow-legs are rounded out like those 
of the Black-bellied Plover, and the proportion is almost as 
disheartening, I believe, in the case of published portraits of 
the bird. 
If, in drawing a bird’s head, the eye be placed intentionally 
too far back or too high in the head, it will be evident how im- 
portant such matters are, and when it is properly realized that 
every minute detail is for the most part just as constant as the 
more blatant ones, the artist and taxidermist will come to ac- 
knowledge the gravity of his task of bringing real lifelikeness 
to his creations. 
In the case of nearly all woodpeckers the rear angle of the 
eye is higher than the fore. If this point is not properly imi- 
tated or reproduced a large part of the typical Woodpecker ex- 
pression goes. And similarly, in the case of Loons and many 
divers, the eyes are rather elliptical, and give, together witli 
their color and position in the heal, a rather serpentine visage. 
The Puffin has an indescribably artificial looking eye, though 
there is a suggestion of more actuality when the bird grasps 
something in its bill. The cornea of the Puffin’s eye is very 
flat. The iris is a cold, flat gray, and the high light, due to the 
flat surface of the cornea, is hardly apparent at all at times. 
These points give the Puffin an expression all his own, and 
coupled with the notably eccentric bill make it one of the most 
cli a ra cterfu 1 species. 
In the case of some Grebes, notably the Homed as a com- 
mon example, the eye is truly wonderful, aside from its being 
