How to Mount a Bird. 



847 



from completion. Your bird may be well wired, correctly put 

 together, and smoothly filled, but if it is not placed in a proper 

 attitude, all goes for naught. True, very much depends on all this 

 preliminary work, and it needs to be 

 thoroughly well done in order to make 

 the mounted bird a success ; but •from 

 now onward, every touch tells. 



Dress the feathers a little with your 

 small forceps, catching them low down, 

 raising them and letting them fall into 

 place, or pulling them gently into posi- 

 tion here and there as occasion may 

 demand. Adjust the legs, bringing the 

 heels a little nearer together than are 

 the knees, while at the same time you 

 put them at the proper distance from the 

 body. In ordinary positions of perching 

 birds, very little of the leg shows above 

 the heel, while the heels themselves are 

 brought near the body. The reverse of 

 this is true in running and wading birds. 

 A great deal, too, depends on having 

 the proper angle between the tibia and 

 tarsus, and you will soon discover that 

 there is much power of expression in a 

 bird's feet and legs. A very common 

 mistake is that of making small birds stand too upright. Notice 

 the sparrows as they hop about the street, or observe your pet 

 canary, and you will see how a bird's legs should be placed. In 

 parrots, the heel is usually below the line of the foot ; and the owl 

 shows his relationship with the parrot by bringing his heels so far 

 backward and downward that only the feet project beyond the long, 

 fluffy feathers of the breast. Many swimming birds, on the con- 

 trary, hold their legs almost as straight as sticks, the gull being an 

 extreme case. When you are in doubt regarding a given point, 

 consult a living bird and you will get much valuable information, 

 not seldom some that is quite at variance with your pet theories. 

 Having placed the feet, it is time to transfer the bird to a temporary 



A SOUTH AMERICAN MONKEY. 



