THE OOLOGIST. 



51 



shall have in the end a woeful looking 

 bird. 



Very earefuUy slide this neck skin 

 over the skull and separate the ears 

 from the head. Scoop out the eyes, be- 

 ing careful not to lacerate the balls. 

 Cut a square piece of bone from the 

 rear of the skull and draw out the 

 brains by pulling the neck. If any re- 

 main scoop out with the brain spoon. 



Turn the skin right side out and 

 shovel in arsenic, or if you use arsen- 

 ical soap paint the skin with it on the 

 inside. 



If dry arsenic is used, having put a 

 plentiful allowance inside of the skin 

 shake it about well. Open the skin and 

 let what remains unattached fall out on 

 a piece of paper. Be sure some arsenic 

 has found its way around the roots of 

 the tail, wing and leg bones as well as 

 into the skull. 



The skin having been poisoned the 

 next thing to do is to mount it. 



For this purpose take three pieces of 

 annealed wire of a size just large enough 

 to support the weight of the specimen. 

 Cut one piece an inch or two longer 

 than the bird and the other two about 

 three times as long as the legs. Sharp- 

 en the ends of these wires with a file. 



Take the longest one and bend it up- 

 on itself, so as to form a centre upon 

 which to wind the tow. Now wind 

 your tow around this centre until a ball 

 is formed. Shape this ball according 

 to the general form of the body and 

 neck of the bird, whose skin you are 

 preparing. Make it as smooth as pos- 

 sible and be sure that the neck has the 

 right curve and length. 



When finished this artificial bird 

 should have about an inch of wire still 

 unused. 



With the bird skin in the same posi- 

 tion as the dead bird was when you 

 commenced skinning, place this body 

 of tow inside of it, pushing the unused 

 end of wire through the roof of the 

 skull. 



Gently draw the skin on each side 

 over the whole form. Run the leg- 

 wires through the soles of the feet along 

 t'le shank and leg bones into the tow, 

 just where the knee rested in life. 

 Fasten these wires in any way so that 

 the body can not wobble. 



Now carefully sew up the incision in 

 the breast, place two artificial eyes in 

 the eye-hoies and mount your bird on 

 the stand. Run the ends of the wire s 

 protruding from the soles of the feel 

 through the holes made on the stand 

 and clasp them. Pin the pope's nose 

 as well as the wings in place. Smooth 

 the feathers well, fix the specimen in 

 as life-like a position as possible, curve 

 the neck and legs as in nature and your 

 bird is done. 



A Few Notes from Oneida Co., N- Y- 



Having noticed several articles in the 

 OoLOGiST from time to time about the 

 nesting of the Wood Pewee, which is 

 one of our common summer residents, 

 I thought that I would also write you a 

 few lines about this little Flycatcher. 

 I notice Mr. Densmore of Ohio saying 

 that this bird seldom builds its nest as 

 high as twenty feet from the ground, 

 usually from five to nine feet. Now 

 here it is different, for out of all of last 

 season's collecting I did not find a nest 

 within twenty feet of the ground, the 

 usual height being about twenty five or 

 thirty feet from the ground. Every 

 nest that I have examined has been 

 saddled upon an extending limb of the 

 butternut or apple tree, the outside be- 

 ing so thickly covered with lichens that 

 it was very diflBcult to distinguish the 

 nest from the limb upon which it was 

 placed, and were all very neat and 

 compact. 



The White-rumped Shrike is another 

 common resident, nesting from April 

 untilJune. A large field thickly dotted 

 with thorn bushes being their favorite 

 nesting place, in fact the only place in 



