INTRODUCTION. 19 



with the knife, but it must not be pulled or drawn or it will be 

 injured by being stretched. The neck is then cut off where it joins 

 with the skull, and the body laid aside for the present. The brains 

 and eyes are next scooped out, and all the flesh and muscles removed 

 from the bones of the legs and wings. The skin is now ready for 

 the preserve, which is simply arsenic procured from the drug store. 

 If the skin is thick and greasy it may be dusted on dry, giving the 

 skin as much as will adhere to it ; but if it is a thin, dry skin it is 

 better to mix the arsenic with f ] water to about the thickness of cream 

 and put it on with a brush. When the preserve is thus applied to 

 all the parts, a little cotton is wrapped around the bones of the legs 

 and wings, the eye-sockets are filled with the same, and a piece about 

 the length and thickness of the neck pressed firmly into the skull. 

 The wings and legs are then pulled outward till they take their 

 proper place, and the skin turned backward till it assumes its natural 

 position, and it is filled with wadding to its former size. The 

 mandibles are then fastened together by a thread passed through 

 the nostril and tied under the bill. The legs are crossed and tied 

 together with a thread just above the feet ; the feathers of the body 

 are drawn together so as to cover the opening. Just in proportion 

 to the care and pains bestowed on the specimen at this point, will it 

 be a good skin or the reverse, for whatever position the feathers 

 now get, that position they will retain. The body should next be 

 examined to ascertain the sex of the specimen. This is done by 

 cutting a hole in the side opposite the small of the back. Attached 

 to the backbone at this point may be found the testicles of the male,, 

 two round bodies of dirty white, varying in size according to the size 

 of the bird, but always largest in spring. Those of such birds as the 

 warblers are no larger than pin heads. If the specimen is a female,, 

 the ovaries will be found in the same position, a mass of flattened 

 spheres, similar in color, ranging in size according to the size of the 

 bird, and also with the season. There should be attached to the 

 legs of the specimen by a thread, a "tag" giving its scientific and 

 common name, the sex, date of capture, locality where found, and 

 name of collector. This is the course followed with birds up to the 

 size of a Robin, the time required to complete the operation being 

 twenty minutes. Three in an hour is about my rate of progress, but 

 I have seen statements made of a much larger number being done 

 in that time. 



The specimen is now put away to dry, and the position in which 

 it is left will decide its future appearance. I have a setting-board 



