20 



the same distance apart as when attached to the body. Skin the 

 le<^ down to the scalj part, or tarsus, and remove all the muscle. 

 Apply the arsenic to the bone and skin, and, wrapping cotton 

 round the bone, pull it back to its place. Remove all the muscle 

 and fat which may adhere to the base of the tail or the skin, and 

 put on plenty of the preservative wherever this can be done. Lift 

 up the wing, and remove the muscle from the forearm by making 

 an incision along it. In many cases, the two joints may be exposed 

 by carefully slipping down the skin towards the wrist-joint, the 

 adhesion of the quills to the bone being loosened : this is, however, 

 scarcely an advisable method. It is perhaps generally better to 

 clean the forearm from the inside before tying the wings. 



The bird is now to be restored to something like its natural 

 shape by means of a filling of cotton or tow. Begin by opening 

 the mouth and putting cotton into the orbits and upper part of 

 the throat, until these parts have their natural shape. Next 

 take tow or cotton, and after making a roll rather less in thickness 

 than the original neck, put it into the skin, and push firmly into 

 the base of the skull. This can best be done by means of long 

 forceps. By means of this, you can reduce or contract the neck 

 if too much stretched. Fill the body with cotton, not quite to 

 its original dimensions, and sew up the incision in the skin, com- 

 mencing at the upper end, and passing the needle from the inside 

 outwards ; tie the legs and mandibles together, adjust the fea- 

 thers, and, after preparing a cylinder of paper the size of the 

 bird, or using one previously prepared as suggested on page IS, 

 push the skin into it so as to bind the wings closely to the sides. 

 The cotton may be put in loosely, or a body the size of the original 

 made by wrapping with threads. If the bird have long legs and 

 neck, these had better be folded down over the body, and allowed 

 to dry in that position. Economy of space is a great object in 

 keeping skins, and such birds as herons, geese, swans, &c., occu})y 

 too much room when outstretched. 



In some instances, as among the ducks, woodpeckers, &c., the 

 head is so large that the skin of the neck cannot be drawn over it. 

 In such cases, skin the neck down to the base of the skull, and cut 

 it ofif there. Then draw the head out again, and, making an in- 

 cision on the outside, down the back of the skull, skin the head. 

 Be careful not to make too long a cut, and to sew up the incision 

 again. 



