THB OOLOOIST 



87 



Shore Bird Skins. 



Why is the demand so much greater 

 for the skins of shore birds than for 

 the skins of other species which are 

 Quite as rare or more so? 



Several letters which I have receiv- 

 ed from different parts of the United 

 States since my article "Cape Cod 

 Notes" appeared in the October num- 

 ber of THE OOLOGIST, have again 

 brought this question to my mind for 

 the shore birds have always interest- 

 ed me. 



It seems to me that several reasons 

 combine to make these skins so much 

 desired by nearly all collectors. First, 

 their beauty, and the sport which al- 

 ways accompanies the collection of 

 them: second, their scarcity. Now 

 that in many states the big markets 

 are prohibited from selling game it is 

 constantly growing harder to obtain 

 them, for no inconsiderable number 

 of the rarer kinds were sometimes 

 found in the "peep" baskets at the 

 markets. In addition to this the Fed- 

 eral Government is trying to stop the 

 killing of all but six varietiies through- 

 out the United States, and this will 

 take away the collector's chances of 

 obtaining specimens from the local 

 hunters; and many a collector has re- 

 lied on the village boys for more or 

 less of his specimens each season. 



At the present time, in order to get 

 a shore bird, it is almost imperative 

 that one shall go in person to the mar- 

 shes where they are found. The num- 

 ber of collectors is constantly increas- 

 ing, and most of the new ones soon 

 discover that the shore birds are hard 

 to get, and they call on the older col- 

 lectors for whatever skins they have 

 to spare. 



The third reason, and I think the 

 greatest reason of all, for this demand 

 for skins is the fact that comparatively 

 few collectors make up really good 

 skins of this family of birds. What is 



more discouraging than after a lot of 

 correspondence with people in various 

 parts of the country, to send and buy, 

 or exchange for, a few skins, and then 

 when they finally reach you, to discov- 

 er that grease has oozed out on the 

 feathers of the abdomen, and possibly 

 find a dark line of accumulated dust 

 already showing along the edges of 

 where the opening cut was made in 

 skinning the bird. You realize that 

 even if you clean this off, there is a 

 supply of grease inside which will soon 

 come out and put them in the same 

 condition once more. I think this is 

 caused partly by carelessness on the 

 part of old collectors, but mostly be- 

 cause some of our younger collectors 

 either do not know how to avoid it, or 

 do not realize the importance of it. 1 

 believe that in tin;e this fault in skins 

 will be corrected. Twenty-five years 

 ago skins with grease on them may 

 have been acceptable, but at the pres- 

 ent time collectors want really fine 

 skins, as nearly perfect as they can be 

 prepared, and many men will throw 

 out a poorly made skin, preferring to 

 go without it until they can get a 

 good one of the species. 



For this reason I have ventured to 

 give a few simple directions to help 

 the beginner, and perhaps to impress 

 it on the minds of some others that 

 it is desirable to do these things. 



After skinning a bird, and scraping 

 and cleaning off all the fat you can, 

 sponge the whole inside of the skin 

 with benzine or gasoline, taking care 

 not to get your cleaning fluid near a 

 lamp or flfame because of the danger of 

 explosion. Then, after poisoning the 

 skin and filling the cavities of the 

 skull with cotton, turn the skin right 

 side out once and carefully wash off 

 all blood stains with warm water. 

 Then thoroughly sponge the whole out- 

 side of the skin, including the feath- 

 ers, bill and legs, with the benzine. 



