26 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



doubtless books on the subject, none were avail- 

 able. However, I spoke to Dr. Wilder about it, 

 and told him I wanted to preserve the kingfisher. 

 He said that he had recently read of a natural- 

 ist who had made an expedition into some very 

 remote part of China, and brought back many 

 bird skins. He simply skinned them, as he would 

 any animal, opening them from the vent to the 

 angle of the bill, laying the skin out flat, sprin- 

 kling it with salt or alum, and drying it between 

 sheets of paper. All his specimens came home 

 in that shape, and were utilized for scientific pur- 

 poses afterward. So, with a knife, I proceeded to 

 treat my kingfisher in that v/ay, and was so far 

 successful that a flat skin of the kingfisher, retain- 

 ing most of the feathers, not much rumpled and 

 fairly clean, was the result. In a few days it dried, 

 and having duly labelled it, I was delighted with 

 my specimen. 



Later in the year I made the acquaintance of a 

 boy who told me that another fellow in college, by 

 name Jobs, from somewhere out West, knew how 

 to stuff birds. I found out where Jobs roomed, 

 and called on him. He had on his mantelpiece 

 a mounted specimen of a spotted sandpiper. It 

 appeared to me the most beautiful and natural 

 piece of work conceivable, and I determined at 

 that moment to become capable in this kind of 

 handicraft. Jobs told me all about it, and showed 



