An aberrant bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) with multiple anatomical abnormalities

Genetic abnormalities, especially polydactyly, are quite common among birds. Although there are numerous accounts of anatomically abnormal birds with polydactyly, few written anatomical descriptions have elucidated whether or not these physical aberrations extend to the musculoskeletal structure of the feet. Here, we present the findings of a dissection of a 14-week old female bald eagle that exhibited polydactyly and numerous other aberrations and discuss the functional impact these aberrations would cause. The specimen displayed a myriad of feather anomalies including missing feathers (i.e., had never grown in), ingrown feathers, stress bars, and most strikingly, bifurcated feathers wherein two feathers were seen to grow out of one rachis. Further, an extra, anomalous tendon was observed stemming from the tendinous origin of the m. extensor carpi radialis. The carpometacarpi were unable to reach full extension, stopping at less than 140º, and had phalanges bent downward at 45º. This mobility is limited in comparison to that of a normal bird. Most notably, the specimen exhibited polydactyly with one extra hallux on each foot. Several tendons of the left foot were seen to have aberrant connections as well.

A Geometric Method for Determining Shape of Bird Eggs

Precise quantification of the oval of a bird egg can provide a powerful tool for the analysis of egg shape for various biological problems. A new approach to the geometry of a bird egg oval is presented here using a simple algebraic equation to fit all normal bird egg shapes. Only two parameters are needed in the equation for complete shape description of an egg oval to quantify the equation's capacity for curve fitting all species and shapes of bird egg ovals. The equation was fitted to egg silhouettes from a sample of 250 different bird egg species containing one egg per species. Standard regression analysis was used to fit the equation to each egg profile. The 99% CI for the curve fit acceptance rate was calculated to determine the equation's statistical significance for all species of bird eggs. Compared to the power series multiequation models (Preston 1968, Todd and Smart 1984), the equation used here is the simplest analytic description of a bird egg oval.

Some observations upon prolonged treatment of Plasmodium gallinaceum infection in chicks with antimalarial drugs

1. The development of exo-erythrocytic parasites of Plasmodium gallinaceum is more rapid and intense in chicks inoculated with blood from birds heavily infected with exo-erythrocytic parasites than in those inoculated with blood from birds in which no exo-erythrocytic parasites can be found.2. If parasitized blood from a bird heavily infected with exo-erythrocytic parasites is inoculated intravenously into a normal bird and withdrawn 24 hr. later, it produces infections in normal birds characterized by a slow development of exo-erythrocytic parasites.3. The proportion of birds which survived after inoculation with P. gallinaceum and daily treatment with suppressive doses of quinine, mepacrine or pamaquin, was greater when the inoculum was derived from donors in which no exo-erythrocytic parasites could be found (48%) than in those inoculated with blood from donors in which exo-erythrocytic parasites 'were numerous (15). No birds inoculated with parasitized blood from donors heavily infected with exo-erythrocytic parasites were sterilized of their infections by the action of the drugs, whereas in eleven out of sixty-six of the birds inoculated with parasitized blood from birds in which no exo-erythrocytic parasites could be found the infections were eradicated by the drugs.4. Blood-inoculated infections of P. gallinaceum may in some cases be eradicated by short courses of treatment with mepacrine, quinine or pamaquin.5. Whereas blood-inoculated infections of P. gallinaceum derived from donors in which no exo-erythrocytic parasites could be found were sometimes eradicated by prophylactic treatment with quinine, mepacrine or pamaquin, it was not possible to eradicate the infections by curative treatment with similar doses of these drugs.6. The difference in type of infection produced by parasitized blood from birds in which no exo-erythrocytic parasites could be found at the time of withdrawal of the blood and those in which exo-erythrocytic parasites were plentiful appears to be due to the presence of exo-erythrocytic parasites in the circulating blood of the latter type of donor.7. Sterilization by the action of quinine, mepa-crine or pamaquin of blood-inoculated infections from donors in which no exo-erythrocytic forms could be found, appears to depend upon whether the erythrocytic parasites are killed before they can become converted into exo-erythrocytic forms.8. No evidence has been obtained of the intensification of development of exo-erythrocytic parasites by the suppression of erythrocytic parasites with drugs.

Diseases

1. Bacillary white diarrhea probably is present wherever poultry husbandry is practised. The infection has been found in 71 of the 100 countries of North Carolina. The disease is highly contagious and is productive of great monetary loss to the poultrymen of the State.2. The disease produces a septicemis condition in chicks, resulting in a pathological condition of the internal organs. The lesions produced are fairly constant, and are typical of the disease.3. The disease may assume a virulent form in adults. The clinical history of infected adults shows slight deviations in respiration, elevation in temperature, a leucocytosis in the blood, and is not usually fatal.4. Studies of the carrier bird show that the focalized condition of the disease does not noticeably affect the respiration; there may be temporary elevation of temperature; the annual body weight curve follows that of normal birds; there is a distinct tendency to nest more often than the normal bird, and that the death rate in carrier birds is abnormally high.