FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>   >|  
rdboard in the form of "gutters." In these, padded in wadding, the skins rest until dry. Fig. 24--"Set" or Drying Board for Birds' Skins. Often blood and other substances clog and spoil the feathers of a bird; how to remove these will be found explained in the chapter on Cleaning Birds' Skins. Fig. 25--Starling Properly Made Into a Skin With Label Attached. In noting the sex of a bird an important matter, only managed in most cases by the aid of a little dissection--it will be necessary to cut the body, after it is out of the skin, through the ribs along the side close to the back, open it, and look upon the kidneys (dark coloured masses apparently let into the hollow of the back-bone at the narrowest part of the body) for the sexual organs. If a male, there will appear just upon the upper end of the kidneys, one on each side of the back bone, two little oval-shaped bodies, usually of a dull white or light yellow tint (do not mistake the supra-renal capsules--quite yellow, small, and a little higher up--for these). If a female, these two small oval bodies will be replaced a little lower clown by a string or bundle of eggs, very minute in some seasons, but strongly marked and large in the breeding season. It is sometimes difficult to tell the sex--in young birds especially; but a good plan is to get a bird, known by its plumage to be a male--say a cock sparrow--and a female bird, and dissect out these organs, putting them in spirits in separate bottles, the organs of each sex attached to its part of the bone and kidneys, and keep them for reference until experience teaches the way to readily decide sexes. A label is attached to the legs, giving scientific and common name of bird, sex, locality, and date, and name or initials of collector. Thus: No. 1. STURNUS VULGARIS, 1. (Starling). Sex.--Male Juv. Colour of irides--Dark brown. Colour of beak--Dark slate. Colour of legs & toes--Reddish-brown. Leicester, 21/9/83. Collector, MB. In the cases of such birds as the hawks, which have bare spaces around the eyes (sub, and super-ciliary patches) and around the base of the beak (cere), note down the colours of these parts also. In the cases of rare birds the measurements of the extreme length from tip of beak to tail--again from inner edge of gape to vent, the bill and tail being measured separately from those points--should be carefully taken, as also the length of culmen, carpus, and tarsus, an
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

kidneys

 

organs

 

Colour

 
bodies
 
yellow
 

Starling

 
attached
 

length

 

female

 

VULGARIS


STURNUS
 

initials

 

collector

 

sparrow

 

dissect

 
putting
 

spirits

 

plumage

 

separate

 
bottles

giving

 
scientific
 

common

 

decide

 

reference

 

experience

 

teaches

 
readily
 

locality

 

extreme


measurements

 

colours

 

carefully

 

culmen

 

carpus

 

tarsus

 

points

 

measured

 

separately

 

Leicester


Collector

 

Reddish

 

irides

 

ciliary

 

patches

 

spaces

 
higher
 

noting

 

Attached

 

important