HOW TO MAKE A BIRDS KIN 51 



exactly the shape they are set, if not accidentally pressed upon. 

 At sea, however, or during unusually protracted wet weather, they 

 of course dry slowly, and may require some attention to prevent 

 mildew or souring, especially in the cases of very large, thick- 

 skinned, or greasy specimens. Thorough poisoning, and drying by 

 a fire, or placing in the sun, will always answer. Very close packing 

 retards drying. When travelling, or operating under other circum- 

 stances requiring economy of space, you must not expect to turn 

 out your collection in elegant order. Perfection of contour-lines 

 can only be secured by putting each specimen away by itself; 

 undue pressure is always liable to produce unhappily oatrc configura- 

 tion of a skin. Trays in a packing box are of great service in 

 limiting possibilities of pressure ; they should be shallow ; one four 

 inches deep will take a well -stuffed hen -hawk, for example, or 

 accommodate from three to six sparrows atop of one another. It is 

 well to sort out j^our specimens somewhat according to size, to keep 

 heavy ones off little ones ; though the chinks around the former 

 may usually be economised with advantage by packing in the less 

 valuable or the less neatly prepared of the latter. When limited 

 to a travelling chest, I generally pass in the skins as fast as made, 

 l^acking them solid in one sense, yet finding a nice resting-place 

 for each. If each rests in its own cotton coffin, it is astonishing 

 how close they may be laid without harm, and how many will go 

 in a given space ; a tray 30 x 18 x 4 inches will easily hold three 

 hundred and fifty birds six inches long. As a tray fills up, the 

 drier ones first put in may be submitted to more pressure. A skin 

 originally dried in good shape may subsequently be pressed perfectly 

 flat without material injury ; the only thing to avoid being distor- 

 tion. The whole knack of jiacking birds corresponds to that of 

 filling a trunk solidly full of clothes, as may easily be done without 

 damage to an immaculate shirt-front. Finallj^, I would say, never 

 put away a bird unlabelled, not even for an hour ; you may forget 

 it or die. Never tie a label to a bird's bill, wing, or tail ; tie it 

 securely to legs where they cross, and it will be just half as 

 liable to become detached as if tied to one leg only. Never paste 

 a label, or even a number, on a bird's plumage. Never put in glass 

 eyes before mounting. Never paint or varnish a bird's bill or feet. 

 Never replace missing plumage of one Ijird with the feathers of 

 another — no, not even if the birds came out of the same nest.^ 



^ [In presenting anew, and to an English public, the foregoing directions for inani- 

 jiulation, the author may be jiardoued if lie alludes to the test of time in their favour. 

 Some of his earliest specimens, made in 1857, are extant, and in good order still. 

 Many of the large cabinets, both in Europe and the United States, include some of 

 his preparations, received in exchange through the Smithsonian Institution, or through 

 private channels. They will be found, as a rule, compact yet shapely, with a smooth 

 finish, and very durable. He may add, lest this paragraph should be misunderstood, 



