How to Mount a Bird. 



843 



Take the body wire, bend it like a U, with one long and one short 

 leg, and thrust them through the body from the posterior end so that 

 the long wire may come out a little above the center ; twist the 

 two ends together for a turn or two, and cut off the shorter end. 

 Holding the body in your right hand, you twist around the pro- 



YOUNG WATER! 



jecting wire enough fine tow to form the neck. A little practice 

 will give you the knack of doing this so that the neck will be hard 

 and smooth. It should be a trifle larger — not longer — than the 

 original, because the feathers will lie a little closer in the mounted 

 than in the living bird, and yet their necks must be of the same 

 size outwardly.* 



If there is the slightest danger of the tow becoming loose, secure 

 it by wrapping with fine thread ; in fact, if you do this always, you 

 will be saved much inconvenience and loss of temper. If your wire 



• Herons and some other birds have flattened necks, which are made in the fol- 

 lowing manner : Wind a small neck on the body wire as above directed, and make a 

 second roll on a separate and smaller wire. Uniting these two, you have a flat no k 

 which imitates the muscles and the windpipe. 



