15 
wounds upon the hands that hold him, and imperil the vision of the 
ophthalmologist that places his eye too near his powerful beak. On 
the other hand, a little gentleness, combined with firmness, will 
suffice to enable the observer to make satisfactory explorations of the 
avian fundus. The main trouble lies with the pecten and the small, 
undilatable pupils of a great many birds. I have not yet had suffi¬ 
cient experience of some orders to speak with authority, but, in 
my experience so far, the best mydriatic for the examination of 
birds’ fundi is the following mixture: 
Fig. 5.—Section of the Red-tailed Buzzard's eye, to show the temporal fovea, 
the large ciliary muscle, Crampton’s muscle aud the locality of the bony plates 
in the bird’s sclera. 
* 
Cocain mur. 
Homatropin mur., of each, one grain. 
Atropiae sulph., half a grain. 
Distilled water, half a fluid ounce. 
The great majority of birds’ pupils will be affected by one drop 
in each eye of this solution, one-half to one hour after instillation. 
The ignorance that has hitherto prevailed with respect to the 
ophthalmoscopic appearances of the ocular fundi of birds has led 
to all sorts of curious mis-statements, even by those who ought to 
be better informed. The fact is that the postmortem—especially 
the microscopic—appearances of the ocular interior are, especially 
