ALCOHOLIC SPECIMENS. 97 



it ; and a gentle heat is maintained over a stove. The vapor 

 penetrates every part of the skin, and completely relaxes it, 

 without actually wetting the feathers. The time required varies 

 greatly of course ; observation is the best guide. The chief 

 precaution is not to let the thing get too hot. Professor Baird 

 has remarked that crumpled or bent feathers may have much of 

 their original elasticity restored by dipping in hot water. Im- 

 mersion for a few seconds suffices, when the feathers will be ob- 

 served to straighten out. Shaking off superfluous water, they 

 may be simply left to dry or they may be dried with plaster. 

 The method is chiefly applicable to the large feathers of the 

 wings and tail. Soiled plumage of dried skins may be treated 

 exactly as in the case of fresh skins. 



50. MUMMIFICATION. As before mentioned, decay may be 

 arrested by injections of carbolic acid and other antiseptics ; 

 if the tissues be sufficiently permeated with these substances, 

 the body will keep indefinitely ; it dries and hardens, becoming, 

 in short, a " mummy." Injection should be done by the mouth 

 and vent, be thorough, and be repeated several times as the 

 fluid dries in. It is an improvement on this to disembowel, 

 and fill the belly with saturated tow or cotton. Due care 

 should be taken not to soil the feathers in an} T case, nor should 

 the carbolic solution come in contact with the hands, for it is a 

 powerful irritant poison. I mention the process chiefly to con- 

 demn it as an atrocious one ; I cannot imagine what circum- 

 stances would recommend it, while only an extreme emergency 

 could justify it. It is further objectionable because it appears 

 to lend a dingy hue to some plumages, and to dull most of 

 them perceptibly. Birds prepared rather unprepared in 

 this way, may be relaxed by the method just described, and 

 then skinned ; but the operation is rather difficult. 



51. WET PREPARATIONS. By this term is technically under- 

 stood an object immersed in some preservative fluid. It is 

 highly desirable to obtain more information of birds than their 

 stuffed skins can ever furnish, and their structure cannot be 



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