74 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



swamp-sparrows, various kinds of warblers, titmice, 

 nuthatches, wrens, the smaller blackbirds, swallows, 

 and thrushes. Bluebirds and cedar-birds were 

 considered by far the most desirable, there being 

 a great demand for them at that time for ladies' 

 hats. Something like seven or eight cents apiece 

 were paid for these birds, so the man who killed 

 his forty or fifty per day made good wages. 



The order of work was somewhat as follows : 

 the men were arranged in two groups there 

 were eight of us altogether. One man was occu- 

 pied in winding a conventional ball of tow or ex- 

 celsior into a body and putting wire through it for 

 the neck. He also poisoned the bird skins which 

 the first man at the table simply skinned. The third 

 man of the group turned the reversed skin, after it 

 was poisoned, right side out, and having put a 

 small ball of tow into the head and introduced the 

 artificial body, passed it on to the fourth man. 

 This one finished the task by wiring the wings 

 so that they were extended, and the tail so 

 that it assumed something of a natural position. 

 The birds were then laid on a board to dry, and 

 later artificial eyes finished the job. Later they 

 were delivered to the dealers on cards which held 

 four, there being three cards in a box. 



I was the first man at the table where I sat, and 

 did the skinning ; this was all I did for a long 

 time. Generally I skinned anywhere from one 



