836 How to Mount a Bird. 



push off the skin. From time to time put on a little plaster, to 

 absorb the moisture from the body and to prevent the feathers from 

 sticking to it. Work down until you reach the knee, when you push 

 up the leg from without, insert the point of the scissors or scalpel 

 under the bend, and cut through the joint. Continue to push up the 

 leg and work down the skin until it is skinned as far down as possible. 

 You will find the finger nails most useful for this purpose. Sever 

 the tendons low down and tear off the muscles. Draw the leg back 

 smoothly and skin the opposite one. Work the skin well away from 

 the sides of the body and down to the base of the tail. Cut across 

 the lower bowel, and, working the point of the scissors carefully under 

 the lower part of the backbone, divide it just above the roots of the 

 tail feathers. A bird's skin is very thin just at this particular point. 

 The operation above described requires much care, and at first occa- 

 sionally results in de-tailing the bird. Work the skin cautiously 

 away from the lower part of the back, not pulling it, but pushing it 

 gently or cutting carefully at its junction with the body. You may 

 find it convenient at this stage to hang the bird from a hook 

 suspended over your work-table ; but after a little practice this will be 

 necessary only with large birds. The skin will now peel easily from 

 the body until the shoulder joint is reached, when, if the bird is 

 small, you cut through the arm bone half way between shoulder and 

 elbow, or, if the bird is large, disjoint it.* As soon as the wings are 

 cut loose, the skin comes easily away from the neck, and from now 

 onward it will be necessary to support the skin, as otherwise its 

 weight, especially in a good-sized bird, would be apt to stretch the 

 neck. You now come to the base of the skull, and here you will 

 meet with more or less trouble, for generally it is hard to get the 

 head through the neck. In fact, some birds, such as ducks, wood- 

 peckers, and the like, have such large heads that it is impossible to 

 skin them through the neck. In such cases, sever the neck close to 

 the skull, and, turning the skin right side out, make a cut along the 

 top and back of the head. Through this opening the skull may be 

 readily skinned out. Usually, however, you can coax away the skin 

 until the ears are reached, or, rather, the delicate membrane lining 



* The arm bone must also be left entire if you wish to mount the bird with spread 

 wings. 



