SEXING. 27 



Take a bit of fluffy cotton, press it lightly together, and draw out 

 one end to form a neck. When released from your grasp this cotton 

 body should be but little larger than the body you have removed from 

 the skin. 33. Take the end of the neck with the forceps and insert it 

 gently into the neck of the skin, working the skin down on to it in 

 order to avoid stretching the neck, until the points of the forceps ap- 

 pear in the mouth, then hold the cotton there and withdraw the for- 

 ceps. 34. Carefully fit the cotton body into the skin. 35. Put one or 

 two stitches in the incision on the belly. 36. Ascertain the sex of the 

 bird (see beyond). 37. Cross the legs, and at the point of intersection 

 attach a label (see beyond). 38. Squeeze the wing-bones together until 

 you feel the tips of your fingers meet over the bird's back. 39. Pre- 

 pare a sheet of cotton about five inches square and as thin as you can 

 make it ; lay the bird on this on its right side, the bill pointing to your 

 right hand. 40. Put the left wing in place and dress the feathers about 

 it. 41. Take hold of the sheet of cotton, and turn the bird over in it in 

 order that you may dress the right wing. 42. Roll the bird on to its 

 belly, holding the wings in position with the thumb and first finger 

 of the left hand, and with the right hand bring the tips of the wing- 

 feathers into their proper place over the back. 43. Roll the bird back 

 on to its back, the bill pointing to your right hand ; take the end of 

 the sheet of cotton farthest from you and draw it lightly over the 

 bird to the side nearest you. 44. Draw the end nearest you in the 

 opposite direction. 45. See that the feet, tail, and tips of the wings 

 are in their proper position, and place your specimen out of harm's 

 way to dry. 



It will doubtless take you from half an hour to an hour to make 

 your first birdskin. It will probably be a sorry-looking object, per- 

 haps minus a head or tail or half its feathers ; but do not let this dis- 

 courage you. An expert can make ten birdskins an hour, and you 

 need only practice to approach this. 



There are endless variations of the method here described. It is 

 not possible to go into further details here, and if you have taxider- 

 mic ambitions I would advise you to procure a copy of Mr. W. T. 

 Hornaday's excellent Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting (Scribner, 

 $2.50). 



Sexing. — A specimen without a sex mark on its label is of com- 

 paratively little value. The sex in many birds can of course be dis- 



the wing-bones in to remove the flesh from them, they should be pushed back 

 only far enough to enable one to see plainly the elbow or bend of the wing out- 

 side of the skin. This prevents the wings from hanging, and, to further keep 

 them in place, it will be well at first to tie the ends of the bones (humeri) to- 

 gether. 



