120 



EECKEATIYE SCIENCE. 



albw these to protrude, you may fasten to 

 one of tliem a piece of thread, and wind it 

 carefully and lightly round the body, which 

 will keep the feathers in their places, and 

 this thread should be kept on for a fort- 

 night or three weeks, until the bird is dry. 

 The tail should be kept in its place also 

 for the same time, by a piece of thin 



wire bent over it thus : ^ 



The only thing now to do 

 is to put in the eyes. The colour of course 

 depends on the bird, and these you may 

 buy at any fishing-tackle shop. If you do 

 not use eyes too large, you will find little 

 difficulty ; the juice of the lids will act as a 

 sufficient cement. As to the mounting, I shall 

 say nothing about that now, but shall only 

 advert shortly to a French method of preserv- 

 ing, which is more difficult, but has the advan- 

 tage of superior firmness. It is this : Measur- 

 ing from the insertion of the neck to the tail, 

 make a wire frame of this form, the measure 



taken being from a to B. Upon this wind 

 hemp for the neck only, and place in the 

 skin in the same way as before directed, only 

 that instead of one wire being passed through 

 that in which the tail grows, it is a fork 

 tbat is passed through it. Having formed 

 this frame, fit on to it two legs thus: 



and after the- frame itself is in the skin, 



pass these from the inside down each leg, 

 instead of from the outside, and fasten 

 them on to the frame with the plyers by 

 twisting the ends, B B, round the frame, 

 c, in the first figure. This will make all 

 firm, and you can then fill the body with 

 cut hemp, and sew up. One word as to the 

 other preparations used by bird-preservers. 

 These are either corrosive sublimate or regu- 

 lus of arsenic, which is yellow and of a con- 

 sistence like butter. As I have said be- 

 fore, in cold weather, when there are no 

 flies about, alum will do perfectly well : in 

 warm weather either of the two others may 

 be used. I should prefer the former — corro- 

 sive sublimate — as the other is " messy," and 

 the chief object is to dry up anything which 

 can be attacked by flesh-seeking insects. 

 When you have finished your bird, you can 

 lay the feathers with a large needle — it is as 

 well to have one fixed in a handle and kept for 

 this purpose — and, tying the two mandibles 

 of the bill together with a piece of thread 

 until the whole specimen has hardened and 

 dried, the work is done. 



O. S. EoUND. 



TELESCOPES FOE AMATEUES. 



Convinced that cheap telescopes are not 

 common enough, and that such as are manu- 

 factured are badly constructed, I venture 

 therefore to submit the following details of 

 the best that my brother and myself have, in 

 five years' experimenting, managed to con- 

 struct : — 



Tube, of zinc at 4|(?. per foot, so con- 

 structed that it can be used at any length, 

 from 11 ft. 7 in. to 11 ft. 10 in. Its larger end 

 3 in., its smaller 2 in., in diameter. 



Object-glass — double convex lens of 144 

 in. focus ; to be had of any optician. 



Eye-piece, Huygenian, formed of two 

 plano-convex lenses, sliding in such a way 

 that they can be arranged at any distance 



