MOUNTING BIRDS WITH CLOSED WINGS. 107 



The body being made, it is now ready to be inserted into the 

 skin. This is done by taking hold of the body and pushing the 

 wire which is intended to support the head and neck through 

 the center of the balls of tow in the neck ih-ough the skull, as rep- 

 resented in Figs. 4 and 5. The wires of the legs should now be 

 thrust through the viiddlc of the body and bent at the ends in the 

 shape of a hook and then drawn back and anchored in the body 

 as shown in Fig 4. After this is done the skin should be grad- 

 ually pulled over the body and the opening nicely sewed up. The 

 tail feathers of all large birds should be wired by passing a long 

 smoothly pointed piece of small wire through each tail feather at 

 the flat part of the quill near the body. The tail can then be 

 spread according to the position of the bird. The feathers should 

 also be held in position by placing two pieces ofcard-board across 

 them, and they should pinned together with pins — similar to that 

 represented in Fig, 6 — (Eagle showing wings wired in position.) 

 It is not necessary to wire each tail-feather in small birds ; the use 

 ofcard-board is sufficient, as shown in the Harlequin Duck, Fig. 5. 

 The tails of all birds should be supported by thrusting a wire 

 through the fleshy part of the tail into the body, and then bent in 

 the shape of a letter T for the tail to rest on. 



The bird now being sewed up and the tail-feathers arranged, 

 straighten the legs parallel with the sides and bend them in a nat- 

 ural position Now smooth the plumage and fasten the bird to a 

 temporary perch or stand. Take hold of the wire that supports 

 the head and neck and bend it back, giving the proper position 

 to the head. It will now be seen that by this method, where the 

 balls of tozv are used in filling the neck, in place of a stiff, solid 

 neck, usually made by the old methods, the neck can be lenght- 

 ened or shortened as may be desired by taking hold of the head 

 and sliding it up or down on the wire until the neck is of the 

 proper length. 



After arranging the position of the bird, the throat should be 

 nicely filled out with cotton. Be very particular about this in all 

 birds, for they will look gaunt and hungry if the throats remain 

 without filling. The eyes should now be set by placing a small 



