72 HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 



sweeping strokes, hugging the skin rather than the body. The 

 knee and shoulder commonly require disarticulation, unless 

 you use bone-nippers or strong shears ; the four cuts of the 

 skull may presuppose a very able-bodied instrument — even a 

 chisel. The wings will give you the most trouble, and they 

 require a special process ; for you cannot rea'dily break up the 

 adhesions of the secondary quills to the ulna, nor is it desi- 

 rable that ver}^ large feathers should be deprived of this natural 

 support. Hammer or nip off the great head of the upper arm- 

 bone, just below the insertion of the breast muscles ; clean 

 the rest of that bone and leave it in. Tie a string around it 

 (what sailors call "two half hitches" gives a secure hold on 

 the bony cylinder), and tie it to the other humerus, inside the 

 skin, so that the two bones shall be rather less than their natu- 

 ral distance apart. After the skin is brought right side out, 

 attack the wings thus : spread the wing under sitle uppermost, 

 and secure it on the table by driving a tack or brad through 

 the wrist-joint ; this fixes the far end, while the weight of the 

 skin steadies the other. Raise a whole layer of the under 

 wing coverts, and make a cut in the skin thus exposed, from 

 elbow to wrist, in the middle line between the two forearm 

 bones. Raise the flaps of skin, and all the muscle is laid bare ; 

 it is to be removed. This is best done by lifting each muscle 

 from its bed separately, slipping the handle of the scalpel 

 under the individual bellies ; there is little if any bony attach- 

 ment except at each end, and this is readily severed. Str^w 

 in arsenic ; a little cotton may be used to fill the bed of mus- 

 cle removed from a very large bird ;, bring the flaps of skin 

 together, and smooth down the coverts ; you need not be par- 

 ticular to sew up the cut, for the coverts will hide the opening ; 

 in fact, the operation does not show at all after the make- 

 up. Stuffing of large birds is not commonly done with only 

 the four pieces already directed. The e^^eballs, and usually 

 the neck-cylinder, go in as before ; the body may be filled any 

 way you please, provided you do not put in too much stuffing 

 nor get any between the shoulders. All large birds had better 

 have the leg bones wrapped to nearly natural size. Observe 



