318 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



the throat and stomach, and they fit into the dif- 

 ferent cavities of the body at the wings, shoulders, 

 rump, and thighs with wonderful exactness; so 

 that in stuffing the bird, if you make an even 

 rotund surface of the skin where these cavities 

 existed, in lieu of reforming them, all symmetry, 

 order, and proportion are lost forever. 



You must lay it down as an absolute rule that 

 the bird is to be entirely skinned, otherwise you 

 can never succeed in forming a true and pleasing 

 specimen. 



You will allow this to be just, after reflecting a 

 moment on the nature of the fleshy parts and ten- 

 dons, which are often left in : 1st, they require to 

 be well seasoned with aromatic spices ; 2dly, they 

 must be put into an oven to dry; 3dly, the heat 

 of the fire and the natural tendency all cured flesh 

 has to shrink and become hard renders the speci- 

 men withered, distorted, and too small; 4thly, 

 the inside then becomes like a ham or any other 

 dried meat. Ere long the insects claim it as their 

 own ; the feathers begin to drop off, and you have 

 the hideous spectacle of death in ragged plumage. 



Wire is of no manner of use, but, on the con- 

 trary, a great nuisance; for where it is intro- 

 duced, a disagreeable stiffness and derangement 

 of symmetry follow. 



The head and neck can be placed in any atti- 

 tude, the body supported, the wings closed, ex- 

 tended or elevated, the tail depressed, raised or 

 expanded, the thighs set horizontal or oblique, 

 without any aid from wire. Cotton will effect all 

 this. 



A very small proportion of the skull bone, say, 



