jS METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 



die of the body. Bend the legs parallel with the body ; adjust the 

 wings and feathers nicely all over in a general way, pull the skin again 

 and again over the opening, and gradually make it meet as closely as 

 possible. Stick a needle with thread in the right-hand edge of the 

 cut at the beginning of the incision ( Plate XIII, Fig. 14) on the tinder 

 side of the opening. Sew over and over, drawing the skin together 

 and adjusting the feathers as you proceed until the opening is com- 

 pletely closed. Now bend the legs to what you may deem a proper 

 angle, and the bird will be lying before you as it is in Plate XV, P'ig. 1. 

 Place it on a temporary or permanent T-perch,' run a pointed, smoothly 

 sandpapered wire in the tail-joint, and with a little further manipula- 

 tion, such as filling the throat out, etc., with cotton, your bird will ap- 

 pear as it is figured in Plate XV, Fig. 2. Open the bird's mouth, and 

 with a blunt piece of wire fill the throat out so that it will be smooth 

 and symmetrical. Never allow a specimen to go without filling the 

 throat out perfectly smooth, but not too full. The eyes may be set 

 in immediately, while the lids are soft, or the bird may be allowed to 

 thoroughly dry before setting them. If it is to be allowed to dry the 

 circle of the eyelids should be nicely adjusted and arranged perfectly 

 round and full, but not to bulge out. The advantage of inserting the 

 eyes in dry mounted birds lies in the fact that the skin being stiflf and 

 hard one can work about the head with more freedom, and with less 

 delicacy of touch than is required in handling the fresh specimen, and 

 if the eyelids have been properly adjusted in the first place, a much 

 neater job can be made of them in every particular. To soften the 

 eyelids in dry specimens, cut a piece of sponge that will fill the eye- 

 hole up completely; take your tweezers and soak it for a moment in 

 water and then place it in the eye-hole. The lids will soon become 

 soft enough to insert the eye without trouble.'' Take a piece of soft 



1- Perches- — it is a good jdea to have made, and keep them in readiness, a number of tempcrary T-shaped 

 stands. The cross-piece on many of them can be set at different angles, to give variety to the positions of the 

 specimens. From these temporary stands the specimens can be transferred to the permanent ones. 



2. Inserting Glass Eyes. — Vou may insert glass eyes in your birds on a foundation of putty placed over 

 the cotton in the eye cavity. Absorbent cotton thoroughly saturated with mucilage is likewise good but above 

 all potter's clay mixed with strong glue liquid is the best, or papier-mache. 



You may suit your pleasure as to -a'lien you put in the eyes. 1 never write or telegraph my dealer that I 

 must have the eyes before the eye-lids of my specimens dry. 1 prefer to insert them after the bird is thoroughly 

 dry, for reasons given above. Take just as much care to insert the eyes in a bird as you do any portion of the 

 whole operation of mounting. The head is one of the chief beauties of a bird and the setting of the eye has all 

 to do with the expression. When you insert the eye, it should afterwards be nicely cleaned and polished. 

 In fact, be neat and cleanly with all of your specimens, it will add fifty per cent, to their value. It requires 

 care and some experience to properly adjust the eyes in many birds, and especially in the hawks and eagles. 

 If you can obtain a live hawk it will pay you to carefully note how the eyes set in the head — how keen his 

 expression on account of their forward position in the head, and how beautifully the eye-lid fits around the ball of 

 the eye. The latter fact, however, is true of the eyes of all birds, and is one of the nice points which should be 

 shown in your mounted specimens. In leaving a specimen to dry without inserting the eyes, be sure that the eye- 

 lids are rounded and nicely adjusted. Do not leave one of them half closed and the other fully open 



