MOUNTING SMALL BIRDS. 



18H 



BACK 



F i G. 49. 

 Cross Secf!. i i 

 of Body. 



and forefinger, until at last you have a firm body, smoothly 

 wound, of the same general shape and size as the natural one. 

 When the body is half made you may run the neck-wire through 

 it lengthwise, letting it come out above the centre of the larger 

 end, because the neck is but a continuation of the backbone, 

 Avhich lies at the top of the body. AVheii the wire is inserted, 

 the upper side of the body the back must be pinched to- 

 gether and made more narrow than the breast, which is round 

 and full. Be sure that the body is not too large. 

 Better have it too small and too short than too largo 

 or long, for the former can be remedied later on by 

 filling out. 'When, the body is finished, bend up the 

 end of the neck wire for an inch and a half at the 

 lower end of the body, enter the point in the lower 

 part of the body and force it down and backward until 

 the end is firmly clinched and will forever remain 

 so, no matter what is done with the other end. Make the neck 

 by wrapping fine, soft tow sntoofJibj and evenly around the neck 



wire from the body upward for the proper 

 distance. Make the false neck a trifle larger 

 than the real one, but no longer. The lx><lv 

 is now ready for insertion. 



The next step is to take a thread and tie 

 the elbows together, fastening to each hu- 

 merus just above the elbow- joint. Xo\v 

 take the false body in the right hand, open 

 the skin, introduce the sharp end of the 

 neck-wire into the neck skin, fore" the wire 

 through the top of the skull in the cen- 

 tre, and push it through until the neck 

 and body come nicely into place. Now see 

 whether the body is of the right size. It 

 should not be so large as to fill the skin precisely, for if so it 

 is too large. 



We must now fasten the legs to the body, and will take tin- 

 left one first. The leg is still perfectly straight. Hold the 

 lower part firmly between the thumb and finger, grasp the leg- 

 wire, push it on through the leg and enter the sharp point at 

 about the centre of the left side of the false body, and slanting 



FIG. 50. The Finished 

 Body and Neck, with Legs 

 in Position. 



