Caruncle (bird anatomy) Caruncle (bird anatomy) A caruncle is defined as 'a small, fleshy excrescence that is a normal part of an animal's anatomy'. Within this definition, caruncles in birds include wattles (or dewlaps), snoods, and earlobes. The term caruncle is derived from Latin 'caruncula', the diminutive of 'carō', flesh. Caruncles are carnosities, often of bright colors such as red, blue, yellow or white. They can be present on the head, neck, throat, cheeks or around the eyes of some birds. They may be present as combs or crests and other structures near the beak, or, hanging from the throat or neck. Caruncles
The Eagle Wounded by an Arrow in his early political poem "Corruption" (1808). La Fontaine's version of the fable was illustrated by woodcuts in various editions over the centuries, usually by nothing more original than a picture of a bird lying on the ground with an arrow piercing its neck or breast. One or other of these served as model for the left-hand page of Kawanabe Kyosui's coloured woodcut in the collectors edition "Choix de Fables de La Fontaine" published from Tokyo in 1894 with illustrations by Japanese artists. What brings the composition to life is the depiction of the bowman crouching on the bushy shore