Sept, 1914 
SURVEY OF BREEDING GROUNDS OF DUCKS 
239 
during the open season is that it provides safe breeding grounds for many 
dueks. Much of the land owned by gun clubs would now he reclaimed and 
under cultivation had it not been appropriated for private game preserves. It 
is probable that most of our home birds are reared on the same grounds where 
they are later shot. This being true, it is incumbent upon the sportsmen of 
the state and others who shoot to see that excessive hunting does not reduce 
the supply of native ducks to the danger point. The necessary stock of breed- 
ing birds is even more important than available breeding grounds. 
The continued reclamation of marsh lands is undoubtedly reducing the 
available nesting grounds. Nor is there hope that the swamping of land for 
pasturing cattle, or the forming of reservoirs for the storage of water will 
keep pace with the destruction of breeding grounds. Shooting during the open 
season is also yet too severe to allow of maintaining the proper breeding stock 
of native birds, and only a smaller bag limit Avill remedy this adverse feature. 
It is, therefore, imperative that steps be taken to not only provide suitable 
nesting grounds to take the place of those used up for agricultural purposes 
but also to cut doAvn the annual toll enough so that we may maintain our na- 
tive duck supply at a maximum productivity. 
Berkeley, California, July y/, igi4. 
A METHOD OF CLEANING- SKULLS 
AND DISARTICULATED SKELETONS 
By F. HARVEY HOLDEN 
(Contribution from the University of California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology) 
A lthough skins of birds and mammals have been preserved by museums 
and private collectors for many years, the saving of complete skeletons 
has, to a large extent, been neglected. Anyone engaged in intensive 
scientific research will realize that it is almost impossible to find representative 
skeletons in even the larger museums, while the private collector seldom if ever 
saves this part of his specimens which might prove invaluable if made avail- 
able for study. Indeed, comprehensive osteological research on recent forms 
is, except in rare instances, impossible. 
It requires no argument to shoAv that this is a deplorable condition. The 
vertebrate paleontologist is, of necessity, an osteologist; yet his work is cur- 
tailed at every point because of the lack of descriptions of Recent material or 
access to such material itself. In taxonomic studies, also, many questions are 
unsettled upon which the study of the skeleton would throw important light. 
One of the chief reasons for the lack of complete collections of skeletons 
of existing animals, — as complete as such collections might reasonably be ex- 
pected to be, — is that it has been found both unpleasant and laborious to pre- 
pare the bones in shape for comparison or study. Either maceration has been 
employed, or the bones have been boiled in a solution of lye ; the former re- 
quires several months for completion, while the latter process is injurious to 
the bones, and to the hands of the operator. It is hoped that once the greater 
part of the unpleasantness and labor has been eliminated, the study of oste- 
ology will take the place it should among other branches of zoology. 
