METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 6- 



cord them in your note-book." You may now break the humerus or 

 upper arm bone of each wing with your fingers in order that the wings 

 will hang down out of the way.'' Lay the bird on its back and sepa- 



1. Directions for Measurement of Birds. — I cannot recommend any other system lonicnl than that 



given by Dr. Elliott Cones in his matchless work : Key to North American Birds. His directions are as follows : 



For large birds, a tape-line showins; fonrlhs will do; for smaller ones, a foot-ride graduated for inches 

 and eighths, or better, decimals to hundredths, must be used ; and for all nice measurements the dividers are 

 indispensable. 



Length. — Distance between the tip of the bill and end of the longest tail-feather. Lay the bird on its back 

 on the ruler on a table ; take hold of the bill with one hand and of both legs with the other; pidl with rea- 

 sonable force to get the curve all out of the neck ; hold the bird thus with the tip of the bill flush with one end 

 of the ruler, and see where the end of the tail points. 



Put the tape-line in place of the ruler, in the same way, for larger birds. 



Extent. — Distance between the tips of the outspread wings. 



They must be fully outstretched, with the bird on its back, crosswise on the ruler, its bill pointing to your breast. 



Take hold of rij;ht and left metacarpus with the thumb and forefinger of your left and right hand, respect- 

 ively, stretch with reasonable force, getting one wing-tip flush with one end of the ruler, and see how much the 

 other wing-tip reaches. With large birds pull away as hard as you please, and use the tabic, floor or side of the 

 room ; mark the points and apply tape-line. 



Length of Wing.— Distance from the carpal angle formed at the bend of the wing to the end of the longest 

 primary. 



Get it with compasses for small birds. In birds with a conve.\ wing, do not lay the tape-line over the 

 curve, but under the wing in a straight line. This measurement is the one called for short " the wing." 



Length ok Tail. — Distance from the roots of the rectrices to the end of the longest one. • Feel for the pope's 

 nose; in either a fresh or dried specimen there is more or less of a palpable lump into which the tail feathers stick. 

 Guess as near as you can to the middle of this lump; place the end of the ruler opposite this point, and see where 

 the tip of the longest tail-feather comes. 



Length of Bill.— Some take the curve of the upper mandible; others the side of the upper mandible from 

 the feathers; others the gape, etc. I take the chord of the culiiten. Place one foot of the dividers on the culmeii 

 just where the feathers end; no matter whether the culmen runs up on the forehead, or the frontal feathers run 

 out on the culmen, and no matter whether the culmen is straight or curved. Then with me the length of the bill is 

 the shortest distance from the point just indicated to the tip of the upper mandible; measure it with the dividers. 

 In a straight bill of course it is the length of the culmen itself; in a curved bill, however, it is quite another thing. 



Length of Taksis. — Distance between the joint of the tarsus with the leg above, and that with the first 

 phalanx of the middle toe below. Measure it always with dividers, and \x\ front of the leg. 



Length of Toes. — Distance in a straight line along the upper surface of a toe from the point last indicated 

 to the root of the claw on top. Length of toe is to be taken luithoiit the claw, unless otherwise specified. 



Length of the Cl.wvs. — Distance in a straight line from the point last indicated to the tip of the claw. 



Length ok Head, — Is often a convenient dimension for comparison with the bill. Set one foot of the dividers 

 over the base of the culmen (determined as above) and allow the other to slip snugly down over the arch of the 

 occiput. 



2. Breaking the Humerus in Birds' Wings. — This is of little importance and entirely a matter of habit. As 

 for myself I prefer never to break the upper arm bone of any bird, even if the wings do come constantly in the 

 way during the process of skinning. It is easier to skin a bird after the rigor mortis has passed ofT than while it 

 remains in its death stiffness. This comes on more or less speedily according to temperature and climate, and a 

 freshly killed bird at all times bleeds too freely to skin. It should be given time for the blood to coagulate and 

 the muscles to rela.\. 



With a little care and gentle force, after hanging the bird on the hook you can peel the skin down to the 

 shoulder joint and there disjoint it without disturbing the feathers to any great extent. 



The best bird artist I ever knew never broke the humerus in any wing in order to facilitate the skinning of 

 the bird. He skinned down the body completely as represented in Fig. 6, Plate X, and exposed both upper arm 

 bones ; these were cut off, skinned and cleaned as seen in Fig. 6, Plate X, leaving the other wing attached to the 

 body, skinning it down w ith the assistance of a second hook. 



In the smaller birds it is well enough to cut the wing off at the end of the humerus, where the dotted lines 

 show in the upper portion of Fig. 6, Plate X. In all of the larger birds, however, the humerus should be allowed 

 to remain attached to the ulna and radius as seen in Fig. 6,/, Plate X, especially when a bird is to be mounted 

 with the wings spread, which is well illustrated in Plate XXI. 



In all of the larger birds, the eagles, the hawks, owls, herons, pelicans, ducks, etc., be sure and leave all the 

 wing-bones remain attached to one another and skin the wing from the outside leaving the secondary feathers 

 attached to the ulna of the forearm as illustrated in Plate XIX, Fig. ". The reason of this will be further dis- 

 cussed when we are ready to skin the wing of the subject we have on hand. 



