PROCESS OF SKINNING. 63 



nium. You have enclosed and cut out a squarish-shaped mass 

 of bone and muscle, and on gently pulling the neck (to which 

 of course it remains attached), the whole affair comes out, 

 bringing the brain with it, but leaving the entire roof of the 

 skull supported on a scaffolding of jaw-bone. It only remains 

 to skin the wings. Seize the arm-stump with fingers or for- 

 ceps ; the upper arm is readily drawn from its sheath as far as 

 the elbow ; but the wing must be skinned to the wrist (carpus 

 — "bend of the wing") ; yet it will not come out so easily, 

 because the secondary quills grow to one of the forearm bones 

 (the ulna) pinning down the skin the whole way along a series 

 of points. To break up these connections, hold the upper arm 

 firmly with the left thumb and forefinger, the convexit}^ of the 

 elbow looking towards you ; press the right thumb-nail closely 

 against the back edge of the ulna, and strip downward, scrap- 

 ing the bone with the nail the whole way.* If you only hit 

 the line of adhesion, there is no trouble at all about this. Now 

 you want to leave in one of the two forearm bones, to preserve 

 sufficiently the shape of the limb, but to remove the other, with 

 the upper arm bone and all the flesh. It is done in a moment ; 

 stick the point of the scissors between the heads of the two 

 forearm bones, and cut the hinder one (ulna) away from the 

 elbow; then the other forearm bone (radius), bearing on its 

 near end the elbow and the whole upper arm, is to be stripped 

 away from the ulna, taking with it the flesh of the forearm, 

 and to be cut off at its far end close to the wrist-joint, one 

 stroke severing the bone and all the tendons that pass oyer the 

 wrist to the hand ; then the ulna, bare of flesh, is alone left in, 

 attached at the wrist. Draw gently on the wing from the out- 

 side till it slips into the natural position whence you everted 

 it. Do the same for the other wing. This finishes the skin- 

 ning process. The skin is now to be turned right side out. 

 Begin any way j-ou please, till you see the point of the bill 

 reappearing among the feathers ; seize it with fingers or for- 

 ceps as convenient, and use it for gentle traction. But by no 

 means pull it out by holding on to the rear end of the skin — 



* For special case of wing too large to be handled thus, see beyond. 



