20 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



which I find very useful at this stage. It may be described as a 

 series of zinc tubes, varying in size from one inch to six inches in 

 diameter and two feet long, cut in two lengthwise, and placed side 

 by side in a pine frame made to receive them. In these grooves the 

 skins are placed according to size. The semicircular shape of the 

 bed keeps the back and wings in the natural position, and the 

 feathers smooth and regular. The front part of the specimen being 

 uppermost, it is always visible, and if need be the skin can be taken 

 up while drying and any irregularities adjusted. 



Another way of disposing of the skin when made is to form a cosy 

 lied for it in a soft sheet of cotton. Arrange the feathers and shape 

 of the skin as desired, lay the specimen gently into the bed prepared 

 for it, and do not touch it again till it is perfectly dry. 



In larger specimens a different mode of treatment has to be 

 adopted. With ducks, for instance, where the head is large and the 

 neck small, the skin cannot be turned over as described. The plan 

 then is to skin as far down the neck as possil)le, and to cut it off, 

 leaving the head still inside of the skin. An opening is then made 

 in the skin from the centre of the crown, a little way over the back 

 of the head, through which the head is turned out, cleaned and 

 then preserved. The eye-sockets and other apertures are filled with 

 cotton, the head put back into its place, the opening carefully sewed 

 up, and the skin filled out as already described. In birds of this size 

 it is necessary to sew up the original opening, l)ringing the feathers 

 together so that the disturbance may not be observed. 



In skinning oily water-fowl, it is sometimes necessary to sew a 

 strip of cloth around the opening as soon as it is made, to prevent 

 the feathers being soiled b}'^ contact with the grease of the body. 

 With birds of large size, a hook is sometimes passed through the 

 bony part of the body just where the tail has V)een separated. To 

 this a string is attached, by which the body is suspended while the 

 skin is being removed. This plan gives more freedom in handling 

 large birds, the only objection to it being that the skin is apt to be 

 stretched. 



Some bii^ds are so fat that it is always necessary to have an 

 :absorbent of some kind at hand to take up the grease which would 

 lOtherwise soil the feathers. Cornmeal is the best thing to use, but 

 piaster of Paris does very well, except for birds of black plumage 

 which it leaves slightly shaded with gray. The latter material may 

 also be used with advantage for removing blood stains and other 

 impurities which tlie birds may have contracted from their surround- 



