X 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



349 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HOW TO STUFF BIRDS. 



BY II. F. FRENCH. 



Mr Dear Brown : — In a recent number of the 

 Farmer, in rejily to a correspondent who asks in- 

 formation on the above subject, you refer to me, 

 as one skilled in the art of Taxidermy, and will- 

 ing to impart knowledge to others. Now there 

 are many things very easily done, by those who 

 know how, and yet very difficult to teach by pen 

 and ink, to those who have no idea of the process. 



If you doubt the truth of the proposition, sit 

 down some pleasant morning, and describe the 

 process of editing a newspaper, so that we can all 

 understand it as well as you ! 



I Batter myself that I can skin and stuff a bird 

 so that he will look, as the artist said of his por- 

 trait, a little more natural than life, and enjoy as 

 much of immortality as bones and feathers are 

 susceptible of, but whether I can set the process 

 down, so that all your readers can go and do like- 

 wise, remains to be seen. I made my collection, 

 of about a hundred New Hampshire birds, be- 

 tween 1835 and 1838, and they remain as perfect 

 as when just completed. 



I have delayed answering your correspondent, 

 hoping to find in some printed book directions on 

 the subject, that might save me the trouble of 

 writing, but not one word do I find, and as I had 

 no teacher myself, I dare say that they who have 

 skill in such matters may smile at my awkwardness. 

 To any such, I would say that if they could only see 

 the big Washington Eagle, which looks down 

 from the top of a book-case, with such a patroniz- 

 ing air upon me as I write, ready to lend me a 

 quill two feet long, in case of emergency, they 

 would be glad to laugh on our side. 



As in the case of a duel, the preliminaries are 

 longer than the actual fight, so the preparations 

 for stuffing the bird are the larger half of the 

 work, at least on paper. 



ARSENICAL SOAP. 



To preserve the skins of animals from putrifac- 

 tion and from insects, arsenic is the substance 

 generally used. Many persons use it in the form 

 of dry powder, as sold at the shops. I have used 

 a preparation, called arsenical soap, made of one- 

 third white bar soap, and two-thirds arsenic, 

 warmed so as to melt together over a slow fire, 

 with an ounce of camphor gum added, just before 

 the mixture cools. It is applied to the skin, in- 

 5 ide of course, with a brush, like lather to one's 

 chin. 



IMPLEMENTS. 



For tools, a sharp knife with a flat ivory handle, 

 like a budding knife, a pair of cutting forceps, a 

 pair of pincers, and a pair of small tweezers, such 

 as watchmakers use, will be found convenient. 

 Annealed iron wire, of various sizes, according to 

 the victim to be sacrificed, will be required to sup- 

 port the birds, when mounted, and a quantity of 

 tow for stuffing. Cotton will not answer the pur- 

 pose, because, as every girl who ever made a pin- 

 cushion can tell, it is difficult to thrust even a 

 sharp wire through it. 



HOWTO KILL A BIRD. 



It is quite an easy matter, to shoot a bird, and 

 most birds must be shot, but often living birds are 

 brought to us, and as one would dislike to skin 

 them alive, it is necessary to kill them in a proper 



and becoming manner. You can easily wring 

 their necks, or cut their heads off, but since feath- 

 ers are considered somewhat ornamental to birds, 

 this kind of violence will not do. Blood can be 

 easily washed off of ivatcr birds, but not from land 

 birds, so conveniently. Poison will not affect birds 

 of prey, such as hawks and the like. I gave my 

 eagle a teaspoon full of prussic acid, and instead 

 of dying of it, he seemed rather refreshed. 



The scientific mode of murdering the poor inno- 

 cent creatures, if they are not too large to handle, 

 is to pinch them with the thumb and fingers under 

 the wings so as to stop respiration, and as gentle 

 Isaac Walton says, in directing how to put a live 

 frog on to a fish hook, "in so doing, handle him 

 as if you loved him." Byron says, by the way, 

 that Walton was "a quaint, old, cruel coxcomb," 

 and that he deserved to have "a hook in his gul- 

 let" — "with a small trout to pull it." If any 

 one objects to having birds killed, he "had better 

 stop," as the Irishman said, '■'■before he begins" 

 his collection. 



HOW TO SKIN AND STUFF HIM. 



Stop the mouth, nostrils and shot holes with 

 cotton, to prevent the flow of blood. Lay the bird 

 on its back, part the feathers on the breast, and 

 cut through the skin from the breast bone near- 

 ly to the tail. If the blood flows, use powder- 

 ed plaster, or something better, if you know what 

 it is, to absorb it. Separate the bone of the 

 wings at the joint, from the breast-bone. Cut off 

 the neck, close to the breast. Separate the leg 

 bones from the body, leaving the bone in the bare 

 part of the leg, and one joint above, and take the 

 l)ody out. Put in some cotton or tow to prevent 

 the skin from sticking together. Turn the neck 

 wrong side out, till you reach the skull, and cut 

 away the neck and enough of the skull bone to 

 lay the brain bare, which is to be removed, as 

 well as the eyes, on the inside. Apply the arsenic 

 and stuff the head and neck with tow, as you turn 

 it hack. 



By this time, the subject will have lost all re- 

 semblance to the bird he icas, and it will seem al- 

 most as hopeless to make a cabinet ornament of 

 his mortal remains, as to make him fly and sing 

 again, but he will soon improve. 



Take a piece of wire about a third longer than 

 the bird, and bend it, so as to form a loop near 

 the middle, and file each end sharp. Thrust one 

 end through the neck and out through the fore- 

 head, and the other through the tail. Thrust 

 another down inside of each leg, between the skin 

 and bone, through the sole of the foot, and twist 

 the upper ends round the loop, and wind a thread 

 or some tow round the leg bone and wire inside 

 the skin. These are to support the bird on his 

 perch, and must be firm. Twist another wire, to 

 form a cross with the first, and confine it at the 

 loop, and thrust it under the skin of the wings. 

 This wire, which is to support the wings, may be 

 omitted in very small birds, and perhaps in all, 

 except those which it is desired to put into very 

 rampant attitudes, the skin of the wing bein# 

 strong enough, when dry, to keep the wing in 

 place. Open the skin of the wing underneath, 

 and remove the flesh, and apply arsenic to the 

 bjnes and skin. 



Finish stuffing, and sew up the cut in the skin, 

 and any other accidental holes, with a fine needle 

 and thread; find some sprightly posture in an en- 



