Natural History 363 



(From Country Life, June 1904) 



OWL-STUFFING PLATE (p. 364) 



Fig. I. The dead owl, showing the cuts made in skinning it: 

 A to B, for the body; El to H, on each wing, to remove the meat 

 of the second joint. 



Fig. 2. After the skinning is done, the skull remains attached 

 to the skin, which is now inside out. The neck and body are cut 

 off at Ct. Sn to Sn shows the slit in the nape needed for owls 

 and several other birds. 



Fig. 3. Top view of the tow body, neck end up, and neck 

 wire projecting. 



Fig. 4. Side view of the tow body, with the neck wire put 

 through it. The tail end is downward. 



Fig. 5. The heavy iron wire for neck. 



Fig. 6. The owl after the body is put in. It is now ready to 

 close up, by stitching up the slit on the nape, the body slit B to 

 C, and the two wing slits El to H on each wing. 



Fig. 7. A dummy as it would look if all the feathers were 

 ofif. This shows the proper position for legs and wings on the 

 body. At W is a glimpse of the leg wire entering the body at the 

 middle of the side. 



Fig. 8. Another view of the body without feathers. The 

 dotted lines show the wires of the legs through the hard body, 

 and the neck wire. 



Fig. 9. Two views of one of the eyes. These are on a much 

 larger scale than the rest of the figures in this plate. 



Fig. 10. The finished owl, with the thread wrappings on and 

 the wires still projecting. Nw is end of the neck wire. Bp is 

 back-pin, that is, the wire in the centre of the back, Ww and Ww 

 are the wing wires. Tl are the cards pinned on the tail to hold 

 it flat while it dries. In the last operation remove the thread 

 and cut all these wires off close, so that the feathers hide what 

 remains. 



STUFFING AN ANIMAL 



Mounting a mammal, popularly called animal, is a much 

 more difficult thing than mounting — that is, stuffing — a 

 bird. 



