74 HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 



directed. Return it, draw the edges of the cut nicely to- 

 gether, and sew up the opening with a great many fine stitches. 

 Simple as it may appear, this process is often embarrassing, 

 for the cut has an unhappy tendency to wander about the neck, 

 enlarging itself even under the most careful manipulation ; 

 while the feathers of the parts are usually so short, that it is 

 difficult to efface all traces of the operation. I consider it 

 very disagreeable ; but for ducks I know of no alternative. I 

 have however found out a way to avoid it with woodpeckers, 

 excepting the very largest : it is this : — Before skinning, part 

 the eyelids, and plunge the scalpel right into the eyeballs ; 

 seize the cut edge of the ball with the forceps, and pull the 

 eye right out. It may be dextrousl}^ done without spilling the 

 eye water on the plumage ; but, for fear of this, previously put 

 a little pile of plaster on the spot. Throw arsenic into the 

 socket, and then fill it with cotton poked in between the lids. 

 The eyes are thus disposed of. Theu, in skinning, when you 

 come to the head, dissever it from the neck and work the skull 

 as far out as you can ; it may be sufficiently exposed, in all 

 cases, for you to gouge out the base of the skull with the scis- 

 sors, and get at the brain to remove it. Apply an extra large 

 dose of arsenic, and 3'ou will never hear from what jaw-muscle 

 has been left in. In all these cases, as already remarked, the 

 head is preferably set lying on one side, with the bill pointing 

 obliquely to the right or left. Certain birds require a special 

 mode of setting ; these are, birds with very long legs or neck, 

 or both, as swans, geese, pelicans, cormorants, snakebirds, 

 loons, and especially cranes, herons, ibises and flamingoes. 

 Long legs should be doubled completely on themselves by 

 bending at the heel-joint, and either tucked under the wings, 

 or laid on the under surface ; the chief p-^'nt is to see that 

 the toes lie flat, so that the claws do not stick up, to catch 

 in things or get broken off. A long neck should be carefully 

 folded ; not at a sharp angle with a ci'ease in the skin, but 

 with a short curve, and brought round either to the side of 

 the bird or on its breast, as m:iy seem most convenient. The 

 object is to make a "bale" of the skin as nearly as may be, 



