COLLECTING SKINS OF LARGE BIRDS. 61 



ing, and several days' time besides. If such specimens are 

 packed and shipped before they are dry, mould and destruction 

 will be their portion, and the collector will do well to flee 

 from the wrath to come. In shipping bird skins in the East 

 Indies and similar climates, it is customary to solder them up, 

 air tight, in tin-lined boxes. Dr. W. J. Holland advises mo, 

 however, that dry wooden boxes are good enough if they are 

 tight, and are first painted over on the inside with melted crys- 

 tals of carbolic acid. 



SPECIAL AND EXCEPTIONAL CASES. Having fully considered 

 the various principles involved in making ordinary bird skins, 

 it is now necessary to note the exceptional cases, and state 

 how each is to be disposed of. It is my desire to equip the be- 

 ginner, as far as possible, against every emergency that is likely 

 to arise in ornithological collecting. For convenience we will 

 take a few of the avian orders, in their natural sequence, begin- 

 ning with the lowest. 



THE STKUTHIONES : Ostriches, Emits, and Cassowaries. Theso 

 great birds are prime favorites with the showmen, and many a 

 fine specimen often falls most unexpectedly into the hands of 

 an astonished " local taxidermist," to the ultimate enrichment 

 of some museum. Happy is he to whom falls a beautiful, glossy, 

 brown-black cassowary, with head and neck of rich purple, and 

 red and yellow, and what-not truly a wonderful bird, and not 

 too large. A full grown African ostrich is an avian colossus, and 

 his enormous size makes him quite a serious matter. 



With these great birds it is best to open the skin of each leg 

 from the lower end of the tibia all the way down to the foot, in 

 order to entirely remove the tendons. Detach the skin from 

 the bone all the way round, and cure it with arsenical soap and 

 a little alum. The leg should be cut open on the inside, well 

 back, where the seam will be most out of sight. After having 

 removed a skin, you will need to keep it soft, sometimes for 

 several days, perhaps until you can make a suitable manikin, if 

 it is a large ostrich. Cure the skin with arsenical soap and 

 salt (protecting the feathers carefully meanwhile), and keep it 

 wrapped up and away from the air until you are ready to put it 

 on the manikin for the last time ; then treat it with dry alum to 

 make it dry and harden properly. 



