186 



TAXIDERMY AXD ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



a little forward. (See Fig 1 . 51.) Now push the wire through 

 the body until it projects more than twice the thickness of the 

 body on the right side. Bend the end of the wire imtil it 



forms a hook, with the point just touch- 

 ing the body. Now pull the wire back 

 imtil the point is again forced through 

 and out on the left side for half an 

 inch, which is then bent down and 

 forced firmly into the excelsior, and se- 

 curely clinched. Wire both legs in this 

 way, and the bird will be so firmly put 

 together it would be almost impossible' 

 to pull it asunder. 



The legs move freely up and down 

 the leg-wires. Push them up toward 

 the body until the heels are in pre- 

 cisely the same places they were before 

 you skinned the bird almost hidden in 

 the feathers at a point about opposite 

 the middle of the bird's wing. Now 

 bend the legs forward at a proper angle 

 (see a living bird or a good picture) and push some finely cut 

 tow down on each side of the body to fill out the place of 

 the thighs. Insert a little more cut tow, evenly distributed, 

 in the breast, where the crop would properly be, and some more 

 at the base of the tail. 



Be sure, there are no lumps or wrongly placed masses of 

 chopped tow anywhere in the skin, for if there are any you can 

 not expect to get a smooth and well-shaped bird. 



Now take a needle and thread, begin at the upper end of the 

 opening in the bird on the breast, and with careful fingers 

 sew the skin together without tearing it or catching the feath- 

 ers fast. Fill in a little tow, if necessary, as yon proceed, but 

 not enough to fill the skin hard and full, and when you reach 

 the lower end of the cut draw the skin of the tail sharply for- 

 ward for half an inch to take up what it has lengthened by 

 stretching, and sew it fast by several long cross-stitches. At 

 the last moment fill in a little more tow at the base of the tail, 

 sew up the opening, and cut off the thread. The most difficult 



FIG. 51. How the Leg Wires are 

 Inserted and Clinched in the False 

 Body. 



