HANDLING BLEEDING BIRDS. 35 



§22. Handling bleeding birds. Bleeding depends alto- 

 gether upon the part or organ wounded ; but other things 

 being equal, violence of the haemorrhage is usually in direct 

 proportion to the size of the shot-hole ; when mustard-seed is 

 used it is ordinarily very trifling, if it occur at all. Blood 

 flows oftener from the orifice of exit of a shot, than from the 

 wound of entrance, for the latter is usually plugged with a 

 little wad of feathers driven in. Bleeding from the mouth or 

 nostrils is the rule when the lungs are wounded. When it 

 occurs, hold up the bird by the feet, and let it drip ; a general 

 squeeze of the body in that position will facilitate the drainage. 

 In general, hold a bird so that a bleeding place is most depend- 

 ent ; then, pressure about the part will help the flow. A "gob" 

 of blood, which is simply a forming clot, on the plumage may 

 often be dextrously flipped almost clean away with a snap of 

 the finger. It is first-rate practice to take cotton and forceps 

 into the field to plug up shot-holes, and stop the mouth, nos- 

 trils and vent on the spot. I follow the custom of the books 

 in recommending this, but I will confess I have rarely done 

 it myself, and I suspect that onl}' a few of our most leisurely 

 and elegant collectors do so habitually. Shot-holes may be 

 found by gently raising the feathers, or blowing them aside ; 

 you can of course get only a tiny plug into the wound itself, but 

 it should be one end of a sizable pledget, the rest l^'ing fluffy 

 among the feathers. In stopping the mouth or vent, ram the 

 fluflf, of cotton, entirely inside. You cannot conveniently stop 

 up the nostrils of small birds separatel}^ ; but take a light 

 cylinder of cotton, lay it transversely across the base of the up- 

 per mandible, closely covering the nostrils, and confine it there 

 by tucking each end tightly into the corner of the mouth. In 

 default of such nice fixing as this, a pinch of dry loam pressed 

 on a bleeding spot will plaster itself there and stop further mis- 

 chief. Never try to wijie off fresh blood that has already wetted 

 the plumage ; 3'ou will only make matters worse. Let it dry on, 

 and then — but the treatment of bloodstains, and other soilings 

 of plumage, is given bej^ond. 



