70 HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 



own cotton coffin, it is astonishing how close the}- ma}^ be laid 

 without harm ; and how many will go in a given space — a tray 

 30X18X4 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 with- 

 out material injury; the only thing to avoid being contortion. 

 The whole knack of packing birds corresponds to that of filling 

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

 damage to an immaculate shirt-front. Finally, 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 secui-ely to both 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 plu- 

 mage. Never put in glass eyes before mounting. Never paint 

 or varnish a bird's bill or feet. Never replace missing plumage 

 of one bird with the feathers of another — no, not even if the 

 birds came out of the same nest. 



B. Special Processes ; Complications and Accidents. 



§37. The foregoing method of procedure is a routine prac- 

 tice applicable to three-fourths if not nine-tenths of the "gen- 

 eral run" of birds. But there are several cases requiring a 

 modification of this programme ; while several circumstances 

 may tend to embarrass your operations. The principal special 

 conditions may therefore be separately treated to your advan- 

 tage. 



§38. Size. Other things being equal, a large bird is more 

 diflScult to prepare than a small one. In one case, you only 

 need a certain delicacy of touch, easily acquii-ed and soon be- 

 coming mechanical ; in the other, demand on j'our strength 

 may be made, till your muscles ache. It takes longer, too ;* 



* The reader may be curious to know something of the statistics on this score 

 — how long it onglit to take him to prepare an ordinary skin. He can scarcely 

 imagine, fi-om his first tedious operations, how expert lie may become, not only in 



