HOW TO MAKE A BIEDSKIN. 41 



ordinary laxidcrmal abortions of the show-cases. But if, after the warnings that I mean to 

 convey in this paragraph, you still wish to try your hand in the higher department of taxi- 

 dermy, I will explain the whole process as far as inauipulation goes; the art you must discover 

 in yourself. 



The operation of skinning is precisely the same as that already given in detail ; then, 

 instead of stuffing the skin as directed above, to lie on its back in a drawer, you have to stuff 

 it so that it wiU stand up on its feet and look as much like a live bird as possible. To this end 

 a few additional implements and materials are required. These are : a, annealed wire of vari- 

 ous numbers ; it may be iron or brass, but must be perfectly annealed, so as to retain no 

 elasticity or " spring;" h, several files of different sizes; c, some slender, straight, brad awls ; 

 d, cutting pliers ; e, setting needles, merely sewing or darning needles stuck in a light wooden 

 handle, for dressing individual feathers ; /, plenty of pins (the long, slender insect pins used by 

 entomologists are the best) and sewing thread ; g, an assortment of glass eyes. (The fixtures 

 and decorations are noticed, beyond, as occasion for their use arises.) 



There are two principal methods of mounting, which may be respectively styled soft stuff- 

 ing and hard stuffing. In the fonner, a wire framework, consisting of a single anterior piece 

 passing in the middle line of the body up through the neck and out at top of the head, is 

 immovably joined behind with two pieces, one passing through each leg; around this naked 

 forked frame soft stuffing is introduced, bit by bit, till the proper contour of the skin is secured. 

 I have seen very pretty work of this kind, particularly on small birds ; but I consider it much 

 more difficult to secure satisfactory results in this way than by hard stuffing, and I shaU there- 

 fore confine attention to the latter. This method is applicable to all birds, is readily practised, 

 facilitates setting of the wings, arranging of the plumage, and giving of any desired attitude. 

 In hard stuffing, you make a firm ball of tow rolled upon a wire of the size and shape of the 

 bird's body and neck together ; you introduce this whole, aftenvards running in the leg wires 

 and clinching them immovably in the mass of tow. 



Having your empty skin in good shape, as already described; cut three pieces of wire of 

 the right ^ size ; one piece somewhat longer, than the whole bird, the other pieces two or three 

 times as long as the whole leg of the bird. File one end of each piece to a fine sharp point ; 

 try to secure a three-edged cutting point like that of a surgical needle, rather than the smooth 

 punching point of a sewing-needle, as the former perforates more readily. Have these wii-es 

 perfectly straight. ^ Bend a small portion of the unfiled end of the longer wire irregularly upon 

 itself, as a convenient nucleus for the ball of tow.^ Take fine clean tow, in loose dossils, and 

 wrap it round and round the wire nucleus, till you make a firm baU, of the size and shape of 

 the bird's body and neck. Study the contour of the skinned body : notice the swelling breast- 

 muscles, the arch of the lower back, the liollow between the furcula into which the neck, when 

 naturally curved, sinks. Everything depends upon correct shaping of the artificial body ; if 

 it be misshapen, no art can properly adjust the skin over it. Firmness of the tow ball and 

 accurate contour may both be secured by wrapping the mass vdth sewing thread, loosening 

 here, tightening there, till the shape is satisfactory. Be particular to secure a smooth super- 

 ficies ; the skin in drj-ing will shrink close to the stuffing, disclosing its irregularities, if there 

 be any, by the maladjustment of the plumage that will ensue. Observe especially that the 

 neck, though the direct continuation of the backbone, dips at its lower end into the lioUow of 

 the merry-thought, and so virtually begins there instead of directly between the shoulders. 



I The right size is the smallest that will support the whole weight of the stuffing and skin witliout bending, 

 when a piece is introduced into each leg. If using too thick wire, you may have trouble in thrusting it through 

 the legs, or may bur.st the tarsal envelope. 



= If accidentally kinky, the finer sizes of wire may be readily straightened by drawing strongly upon them 

 80 as to stretch them a little. Heavier wire must be hammered out straight. 



» Cotton will not do at all: it is loo soft and elastic, and moreover will not allow of the leg wires being thrust 

 into it and there clinched. 



