36 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY. 



large birds to their natural dimensions ; they take up too much room. Let the head, neck, 

 and legs be accurately prepared, but leave the main cavity one-third if not one-half empty ; 

 no more is required than will fairly smooth out creases in the skin. Reduce bulk rather by 

 flattening out than by general compression. Use tow instead of cotton ; and if at all short of 

 tow, economize with paper, hay, etc., at least for the deeper portions of the main stuffing. 

 Large birds may be " set " in a great quantity of tow ; wrapped in paper, much like any 

 other parcel ; or simply left to dry on the table, the wings being only supported by cushioning 

 or other suitable means. 



Shape. — Some special configurations have been noticed in the last paragraph, prema- 

 turely perhaps, but leading directly up to further considerations respecting shape of certain 

 birds as a modifying element in the process of preparation. As for skinning, there is one 

 extremely important matter. Most ducks, many woodpeckers, flamingoes, and doubtless 

 some others with which I am not familiar, cannot be skinned in the usual way, because the 

 head is too large for the calibre of the neck and cannot be drawn through. In such cases, 

 skin as usual to the base of the skull, cut oflF the head there (inside the skin of course), and 

 operate upon it, after turning the skin right side out, as follows : Part the feathers carefully 

 in a straight line down the back of the skull, make a cut through the skin, just long enough 

 to permit the head to pass, draw out the skull through this opening, and dress it as already 

 <lirected. Keturn it, draw the edges of the cut nicely together, 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 diffi- 

 cult to eftace 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 dexterously 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. Then, 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 mth the scissors, and get at the brain to remove it. Apply an extra large dose of 

 arsenic, and you m^lU 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 comjjletely on 

 themselves by bending at the heel-joint, and either tucked under the wings, or laid on the 

 under surface ; the chief point is to see that the toes lie fiat, so that the claws do not stick un, 

 to catch in things or get broken ofi". A long neck should be carefully folded ; not at a sharp 

 angle with a crease in the skin, but with a short curve, and brought round either to the side 

 of the bird or on its breast, as may seem most convenient. The object is to make a " bale " 

 of the skin as nearly as may be, and when it is properly efi'ected it is surprising what little 

 space a crane, for instance, occupies. But it is rarely, if ever, admissible to bend a tail back 

 on the body, however inconveniently long it may be. Special dilations of skin, like the pouch 

 of a pelican, or the air sacs of a prairie hen, may be moderately displayed. 



Thin Skin. — Loose Plumage. — It is astonisliing how much resistance is off'ered by 

 the thin skin of the smallest bird. Though nu thicker than tissue paper, it is not very liable 



