240 BIRDS. 



is not necessary that they should be jointed or set 

 up, but, having removed all the soft parts, boil 

 the bones, and when well dried pack them with 

 moss or grass, or the best packing-stuff at hand, 

 so that they may travel securely. Take especial 

 care that not a bone, tooth, or claw, be lost. 



With respect to birds, the collector 

 Birds. 



should proportion his shot to their 



size, so as to injure the skin and feathers as 

 little as possible. As soon as the bird falls, the 

 blood should be carefully wiped up, and cotton 

 placed within the beak to absorb any that might 

 flow from the mouth, and thus prevent its staining 

 the plumage. Birds should be skinned as soon 

 as may be after they are killed, for, if suffered 

 to remain till putrefaction has begun, the feathers 

 fall off. The mode of skinning birds is very 

 similar to that of skinning mammalia, and equal 

 care must be taken both to make the incisions as 

 small as possible and in the least visible parts, 

 and the feathers must be separated so as not be 

 injured by the knife in dividing the skin : the 



