72 SETTING ON THE WINGS. 



shank, and back again to the spot at which you 

 see the silk depending, you will make a firmer 

 foundation for the setting on of the wings, the 

 time for performing which operation is now 

 arrived. 



Here you see the wings merely whipped on ; 

 the butts of the fibres fast- 

 ened down by being whip- 

 ped over in the direction 

 of- the bend of the hook, 

 and the tips of the fibres 

 pointing away to the right. 

 You ask, where do you get 



these fibres, and what are they ? Simply a small 

 parcel of them, clipped or torn from the stem of 

 some appropriate feather, generally from that of 

 the wing of a small bird, the most common one 

 being the starling. These fibres are generally 

 taken from that side of the feather lying on the 

 inner part of the wing. They are longer, of a 

 lighter colour, and more transparent than the 

 fibres lying on the pinion side of the wing, because 

 the latter are more exposed to atmospheric action. 

 Having cut or stripped your fibres in sufficient 

 quantities to form two wings, and having made a 

 little bundle of them, their butt-ends lying evenly, 

 and not projecting the one beyond the other, 

 fasten the butt-ends down on the top of the back 

 of the hook, at the spot indicated in the wood- 



