COLLECTING SKINS OF LARGE BIRDS. 65 



out getting" a morsel of the arsenic. The fat simply acts as ;,u 

 impervious wall between the poison and the skin. Clean a duck 

 skin thoroughly or else throw it away. It used to be a common 

 thing to see duck skins with the breast feathers a solid mass of 

 nasty yellow grease from the oil that had run out from the 

 opening cut, but such specimens are becoming rare now. 



If the feathers get soiled with grease, blood and dirt, wash the 

 plumage with clean turpentine and a soft tooth-brush, apply an 

 abundance of plaster Paris, rub it into the feathers, and imme- 

 diately beat it out with a supple switch, or piece of stiff wire of 

 proper size. If you have not these materials, wash the feathers 

 with warm water and a little soap, and dry as best you can, 

 according to what you have. Manipulate the feathers while 

 they are drying and they will come out soft and fluffy as in lif o ; 

 but if left to dry without this, they will remain in a bedraggled, 

 soaked, and stringy condition. This subject will be fully con- 

 sidered in a separate chapter (XXV.). 



In making up the skin of a duck or gooso, a piece of wire 

 must be put into the neck, with the tow or other filling wrapped 

 around it, or failing that, the neck filling must be wrapped 

 around a small stick, the upper end of which is to be thrust 

 forcibly into the skull. The head is large and heavy, and the 

 neck is very small, so small that the skin will break in two if 

 there is not a wire or stick run through the body and neck into 

 the head to support the latter whsn the skin is being handled. 

 The feet of all web-footed birds should be spread while drying. 



ALECTOEIDES : The Cranes a:id Herodiones. There is but little 

 to add in regard to birds of either of these orders. The cranes 

 require a slit in the skin at the back of the head, but the heron.; 

 do not. The necks of the latter are very often filled too full in 

 making up a skin, and the neck filling is often made round, 

 whereas it should always be fat, like the actiial neck of the heron 

 or bittiu-n. It is not necessary to remove the tendons from the 

 legs of the small herons, ibises, etc., but the legs should always 

 be bent up and the feet disposed of on the body. The feet and 

 legs of all the above must be treated to a coat of thin arsenical 

 soap, for the benefit of insect pests. 



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