CHAPTER VI. 



HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 



A. The regular process. 



36. LAY THE BIRD on its back, the bill pointing to your 

 right * elbow. Take the scalpel like a pen, with edge of blade 

 uppermost, and run a straight furrow through the feathers 

 along the middle line of the belly, from end of the breast bone 

 to the anus. Part the feathers completely, and keep them 



parted, t 



Observe a strip of skin either perfectly naked, or only cov- 

 ered with short down; this is the line for incision. Take 

 scissors, stick in the pointed blade just over the end of the 

 breast bone, cut in a straight line thence to and into the anus ; 

 cut extremely shallow. J 



Take the forceps in your left hand, and scalpel in your right, 

 both held pen-wise, and with the forceps seize and lift up one 

 of the edges of the cut skin, gently pressing away the belly- 

 walls with the scalpel-point ; no cutting is required ; the skin 

 may be peeled off without trouble. Skin away till you meet 

 an obstacle ; it is the thigh. Lay down the instruments ; with 

 your left hand take hold of the leg outside at the shank ; put 



* Reverse this and following directions for position, if you are left-handed. 



fThe motion is exactly like stroking' the right and left sides of a moustache 

 apart; you would never dress the hairs smoothly away from the middle line, by 

 poking from ends to root; nor will the feathers stay aside, unless stroked away 

 from base to tips. 



J The skin over the belly is thin as tissue paper in a small bird; the chances are 

 you will at first cut the walls of the belly too, opening the cavity; this is no great 

 matter, for a pledget of cotton will keep the bowels in; nevertheless, try to di- 

 vide skin only. Reason for cutting into anus : this orifice makes a nice natural 

 termination of the incision, buttonhole-wise, and may keep the end of the cut 

 from tearing around the root of the tail. Reason for beginning to cut over the 

 edge of the sternum : the muscular walls of the belly are very thin, and stick so 

 close to the skin that you may be in danger of attempting to remove them with 

 the skin, instead of removing the skin from them; whereas, you cannot remove 

 anything but skin from over the breast bone, so you have a guide at the start. 

 You can tell skin from belly-walls, by its livid, translucent whitishness instead of 

 redness. 



(58) 



