THK oouxjisr 



81 



ihe wiugs separating at the elbou-joiut. 

 Ha\ iiig iVuished lhi^, skin over the lieail 

 to the bill, pull out tiie ears, take ou-t 

 the eyes, ami after cleauiug well, 

 sprinkle thoroughly with a mixture of 

 arsenie and alum, equal parts by 

 weight. 



Remove the brain by making a small 

 hole in the back of the skull, after 

 powdering, amputate the head from the 

 body. As a general thing the heads of 

 weij-footed birds are too large to \)v. 

 skinned in this manner. 



In this case, skin the neek as far as 

 possible, amputate and then an ineision 

 must be maile below the throat or at 

 the back of the head, which ma}' now 

 be readily worked upon. After this, 

 proceed as with other birds, sewing up 

 the incision carefully, and i)lacing the 

 feathers back, iu their natural position. 

 Powder the skin well, being jjart'cular 

 to work it in, about the roots of the tail, 

 wings and legs. 



When the bird is large a slit shouhl 

 be made on the under side of the wing 

 below the elbow, so that all mu.scles 

 and libers may be removed. After slufT- 

 ing the wings with batting, previously 

 well powdered, and tying the Ijones in 

 their ordinary position, sew up theslit, 

 smoothe and place the feathers, stuff 

 the neck, legs and bod^' with cotton and 

 sew up the first incision. 



The bird should then be placed in the 

 paper with a label attached, which 

 should contain the srieutitic and local 

 names of the bird, its length from tip of 

 the tail to the end of the l)eak, its girth, 

 food found in the stomach, its se.x, d^ite 

 of procuring, locality and name of 

 the collector and any other data he 

 might see lit to put in. 



If the feathers have become soiled by 

 blood, freely apply warm water to the 

 spot.>f, and dry by sprinkling plaster- 

 paris or chalk over them. 



Oily spots maj' be removed by the use 

 of a solution of potash or soda, say one. 

 half a teaspoonfuU to a glass of water. 



and afterwards washing with pin-e warm 

 water and drying as before. Where the 

 feathers to b(! cleaned are colored, ox or 

 sheep gall should be used, diluted 

 al>out one-half with water. 



If any feathers are bent, they may be 

 straightened by holding them in steam 

 for a moment or two. 



Since our bird is liiiisiiedit would not 

 be out of place to tell you why we have 

 prepared it. A earnest student of 

 binis and their ways will tind it of great 

 advantage to promre a good set of bird 

 skins; for by them he may readily iden- 

 tify birds and tlieir eggs and also learn 

 the usefulness or ilestructiveness of dif- 

 ferent birds. 



J AKriiiH \ViLi,i.\>is, 

 (rait. Out. 



A Trick of the Crow. 



I have heard many stories of the tricks 

 and thefts of crows but none I think are 

 more extraordinary than the following 

 true story. It happened several years 

 ago and was like this: 



M3' brother, then about seven years 

 old, was sent with a dollar to pay the 

 washwoman. She was not at home so 

 he started to return. 



There was a Crow sitting on the low 

 roof of the house and as it seemed to be- 

 watching him he thought he would try 

 to catch it. He tapped on the fence 

 Avith the money and the Ci'ow began to 

 walk along the edge of the roof and 

 linally jumped down to the fence and 

 slowly walked toward him. He wasn't 

 thinking of the monciy but of catching 

 the bird. The Crow approached t<» 

 within perhaps a foot of his hand and 

 then suddenly jumped toward him and 

 Hew up on the house again,— taking 

 with him the dollar. It sal there a 

 minute ga/ing »lown upon him and then 

 sailed away across the fields with the 

 shinning coin in his mouth. 



JNl}- brothel- came lioiuc ci-ying and 



