SETTING THE BIRD. 87 



if you have staffed correctly and wired securely, it will soon 

 improve. Begin by making it stand properly. The common 

 fault here is placing the tarsi too nearly perpendicular. Perch- 

 ing birds, constituting the majority, habitually stand with the 

 tarsi more nearly horizontal than perpendicular, and generally 

 keep the tarsi parallel with each other. Wading and most 

 walking birds stand with the legs more nearly upright and 

 straight. Many swimming birds straddle a little ; others 

 rarely if ever. See that the toes clasp the perch naturally, or 

 are properly spread on the flat surface. Cause the flank feath- 

 ers to be correctly adjusted over the tibiae (and here I will 

 remark that with most birds little, if any, of the tibiae shows 

 in life) the heel joint barely, if at all, projecting from the gen- 

 eral plumage. It is a common fault of stuffing not to draw 

 the legs closely enough to the body. Above all, look out for 

 the centre of gravity ; though you have really fastened the bird to 

 its perch, you must not let it look as if it would fall off if the 

 wires slipped ; it must appear to rest there of its own accord. 

 Next, give the head and neck a preliminary setting, according 

 to the attitude you have determined upon. This will bring the 

 plumage about the shoulders in proper position for the setting 

 of the wings, to which you may at once attend. If the body 

 be correctly fashioned and the skin of the shoulders only ad- 

 justed over it, the wings will fold into place without the slight- 

 est difficulty. All that I have said before about setting the 

 wings in a skin applies here as well ; but in this case they will 

 not stay in place since they fall by their own weight. They 

 must be pinned up. Holding the wing in place thrust a pin 

 steadily through, near the wrist joint, into the tow body. 

 Sometimes another pin is required to support the weight of the 

 primaries ; it may be stuck into the flank of the bird, the 

 outer quill feather resting directly upon it. With large birds 

 a sharp pointed wire must replace the pin. When properly set 

 the wing tips will fall together or symmetrically opposite each 

 other, the quills and coverts will be smoothly imbricated, the 

 scapular series of feathers will lie close, and no bare space 

 will show in front of the shoulder. Much depends upon the 



