OF OBJECTS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 507 



BIRDS. Birds are skinned nearly in the same manner as 

 quadrupeds ; that is, an incision is made from the breast bone to 

 beyond the middle of the belly, after separating the feathers 

 of the belly to right and left. The skin is then freed from 

 the muscles by means of a scalpel, putting chopped cotton on 

 the skin and body to prevent the soiling of the feathers ; the 

 wings detached at the junction of the humerus with the body ; 

 and the skin turned over the head and legs after dividing the 

 joints. The brain is now removed by an enlargement of the 

 occipital hole, the tongue taken out, and the bill tied close ; 

 and after scraping off with a scalpel all the muscular and cel- 

 lular substance, and anointing the inside of the skin and bones 

 of the head and legs, the skin is returned to its natural 

 position. A body formed of straw, flax, or cotton, is in- 

 serted, and the skin drawn over it. A piece of wire of a forked 

 form supports the tail ; a second fixed in the cranium, and ex- 

 tending to this, gives strength to the body ; and two wires, run 

 up the back of the legs from the sole of the foot, are attached to 

 the ring on the tail wire inside the body. When finished, and 

 the incision sewed up, the proper attitude is to be given, the 

 wires projecting from the soles serving to fix the specimen on a 

 board or perch. In large-headed birds, such as ducks, as the 

 skin of the neck will not pass over the head, an incision is often 

 necessary in the nape of the neck. 



As many skins of birds are sent home from foreign countries 

 dried and temporarily preserved, the stuffing ought to be care- 

 fully taken out, and the skin made pliant by wet linen or cot- 

 ton inserted, and in a short time it will be ready for mounting 

 as in the fresh-killed bird. In specimens, however, which are 

 much decayed, there is a mode of mounting feather by feather, 

 when the rarity of the bird is such as to make its preservation 

 an object. The mode adopted by the French naturalists to 

 effect this is to form a body as like the original as possible on 

 a piece of soft wire, with flax and paste ; the head and legs are 

 then fitted ; and the feathers placed in their order, begin- 

 ning with those nearest the tail, and working forwards. The 

 feathers are fastened singly by gum ; the wings attached by 

 pins ; the tail inserted in a hole made for the purpose, and fix- 

 ed by gum. 



