90 THE NATURALIST'S GUIDE. 



Care should be taken to find this opening in the 

 carpus, for if it be passed between the phalanges it 

 will separate them and the quills. 



In raising the wings, this method of wiring will be 

 found of great advantage ; the secondaries, etc., should, 

 however, be kept in place by supplementary wires, un- 

 til dry, as before described. In large birds, supply the 

 place of the wing muscles with clay. 



I do not now recommend opening Ducks, or any 

 other birds, under the wings; but if any grease re- 

 mains on the skin, coat it with soapstone dust, and it 

 will never give trouble. 



NOTE TO SEC. II. Another instrument which I now 

 consider necessary in mounting and making skins is a 

 scissor-like tool, having long flat blades or points, 

 called a stuffer, and which may beobta ined of almost 

 any dealer in naturalists' supplies. 



I have now not only given up the use of arsenic but 

 have also abandoned the use of napthaleine, the product 

 obtained from coal tar, of which I speak in the 

 appendix to this chapter. In place of this I have 

 succeeded in manufacturing a Preservative of several 

 ingredients, which, besides not being a poison, is a 

 deodorizer, completely absorbs oil from greasy skins, 

 preserves them better than arsenic, and is equally 

 good in preventing insect attacks. 



As will be seen upon referring to the next section, a 

 new method of skin-making renders the use of tin 

 forms unnecessary, or, in fact, any other forms. 



NOTE TO SEC. III. A JVeto Method of Skin-Making. 

 I have, in the last few years, considerably changed my 

 method of making skins, and now proceed as follows : 



