64 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY part i 



hide their heads. Stick a pin through the pope's-nose to fix the 

 tail in place. 



All this while the bird has been lying on its back, the neck 

 stretched straight in continuation of the body, wired stifliy, the legs 

 straddling wide apart, straight and stiff, the wings lying loosely, 

 half-spread. Now bring the legs together, parallel with each other, 

 and make the sharp bend at the heel-joint that will bring the feet 

 naturally under the belly (over it, as the bird lies on its back). 

 Pick up the bird by the wires that project from the soles and set it 

 on its stand, by running the wdres through holes bored the proper 

 distance apart, and then securing the ends by twisting. The 

 temporary stand that you use for this purpose should have a heavy 

 or otherwise firm support, so as not easily to overturn during the 

 subsequent manipulations. At this stage the bird is a sorry-looking 

 object ; but if you have stuffed correctly and wired securely, it will 

 soon improve. Begin by making it stand properly. The common 

 fault here is placing the tarsi too nearly perpendicular. Perching 

 birds, constituting the majority, habitually stand with the tarsi more 

 nearly horizontal than perpendicular, and generally keep the tarsi 

 parallel with each other. Wading and most walking birds stand 

 with the legs more nearly upright and straight. Many swimming 

 birds straddle a little ; others rarely if ever. See that the toes 

 clasp the perch naturally, or are properly spread on the flat surface. 

 Cause the flank feathers to be correctly adjusted over the tibite (and 

 here I will remark that with most birds little, if any, of the tibioe 

 shows in life), the heel-joint barely, if at all, projecting from the 

 general plumage. It is a common fault of stuffing not to draw the 

 legs closely enough to the body. Above all, look out for the centre 

 of gravity ; though you have reall}^ fastened the bird to its perch, 

 you must not let it look as if it would fall off" if the wdres slipped ; 

 it must appear to rest there of its own accord. Next, give the head 

 and neck a preliminary setting, according to the attitude you have 

 determined upon. This will bring the plumage about the shoulders 

 in proper position for the setting of the Avings, to which you may 

 at once attend. If the body be correctly fashioned and the skin of 

 the shoulders duly adjusted over it, the wings will fold into place 

 without the slightest difficulty. All that I have said before about 

 setting the wings in a skin applies here as well ; but in this case 

 they Avill not stay in place, since they fall by their own weight. 

 They must be pinned up. Holding the wing in place, thrust a pin 

 steadily through near the wrist-joint, into the tow body. Some- 

 times another pin is required to support the weight of the primai'ies ; 

 it may be stuck into the flank of the bird, the outer quill feather 

 resting directly upon it. With large birds a sharp pointed wire 

 must replace the pin. When properly set, the wing-tips will fall 



