APPENDIX. iii 



plaster of Paris, will be found as feathery and snow-white as if it had never previously been soiled. The 

 skinner should now carry out the following directions as closely as he can : — • 



Lay the bird on the table with its beak to your left. Feel for the upper end of the breast-bone, and 

 make a parting in the feathers from that point down the middle line of the body to the vent. This is the 

 line of your incision, and, though it does not much matter how deep you make it on the breast, you should 

 take the greatest care to make it only skin-deep on the abdomen. Your knife cannot be too sharp. Next 

 pinch up the edge of the skin nearest you with the forceps, and after a stroke or two with the knife you will 

 be able to get hold of it between your thumb and fingers. Over the breast and abdomen it is usually easily 

 separable from the body, and the handle of the scalpel or even the finger should supplement the knife if 

 possible. Skin back as far as the wing and inside of the thigh— as far, indeed, as you conveniently can. 

 Have a packet of shaving-papers or any thin rough paper at hand, torn up into various-sized pieces. 

 Cover the body and inside of the skin with these, and press them on ; they will adhere tightly, and prevent 

 the edges of the feathers from becoming blood-stained. Next grasp the right leg from the outside, and 

 push it inwards towards the body between the first two fingers of the left hand, which should be used 

 meanwhile to retract the skin as far as possible. Cut off the leg at the knee-joint, and clean the "drum- 

 stick." Brush it well with arsenical soap, wrap it in wool, brush the latter again with soap, and return it. 

 Next work off the skin from the outer and back part of the thigh, using your fingers and the handle of the 

 scalpel as much as possible. The skin ought by this time to be separated from the body on that side, 

 nearly as far as the middle line of the back. Turn your bird round with its head to your right hand, and 

 go through exactly the same process on the other side. You should be able nearly, if not quite, to join 

 your former work over the back. Both legs are now finished, but the skin is adherent at the vent and tail, 

 which you have as yet left untouched. Take a piece of twine or thin whipcord about eighteen inches in 

 length, and tie the ends together. Make a catch-loop, and hitch it round the flesh of the thigh just below 

 the head of the bone. Do the same on the other side, and you will thus have the two thighs connected by 

 a loop of string by which the bird can be suspended. Have a string fastened to a hook or some other 

 contrivance in the ceiling just above your head, of sufficient length to reach your table. By passing this 

 through the loop above mentioned, and making fast with an adjustable knot, you will have your bird hung 

 up at a convenient height, just level with your face. As your skinning progresses, you will of course have 

 to alter the height from time to time by shortening up your string. The advantages of this contrivance are 

 enormous ; but in the open air, and on other occasions where it cannot be made use of, the chain-hooks 

 will have to be substituted, two hooks being inserted in the body and the other in your table. By this 

 means you will be able to get a pull on the skin, much as if a second person were holding the body of the 

 bird ; but it is by no means so convenient as the other method. 



Having hung up your bird, then, proceed to skin the tail, an operation which will require all your 

 care. Cut the gut across just before the vent, and as you retract the skin, keep your left thumb outside 

 and underneath, gently pressing the tail upwards. A careful examination of the blunt mass before you — 

 the "pope's nose" in a fowl — will show it to be composed of two rounded lumps on either side, with a 

 wedge of bone between them. These lumps are the insertions of the rectrices or large feathers of the tail, 

 and must on no account be cut, or the feathers will fall out. The bone between them has, however, to be 

 cut across, and this is best done with the tips of the nail-scissors. A touch or two of the knife will now 

 separate the parts, and the skin is then free up to the wings. Shorten the string, and cover the newly- 

 exposed surfaces with paper as before. Many people break the bones of the wings before beginning to skin, 

 as they are apt to get in one's way. It is, however, a bad plan, and practice will teach you how to 

 overcome the slight difficulties they cause. Skinning the wing is not so simple as the leg. It should be 

 worked first from the front and then from the back (an easy matter if the bird is suspended), until the 

 elbow-joint is visible. Cut off the meat cleanly from the bone, and cut through the latter in its middle 

 part. Scissors, tinman's shears, or fine saw will be required, according to the size of the bird : the latter 



