36 ON STUFFING BIRDS. 



ing the frame-work, which may be used either in large or small 

 birds : 



Like the former it is constructed of four pieces of wire. The 

 centre piece should be double the length of the bird ; it is bent 

 at a third of its length of an oval form, and twisted two turns, 

 the shortest end being passed into the oval, and then raised 

 against the longer end, so as to produce a ring at the end, out- 

 side of the oval, large enough to admit the two wires which 

 pass from the feet to the inside of the bird. It is now twisted 

 a second time, and firmly united to the longer end, which 

 ought to be straight, with a sharp point, effected by means of 

 a file. As before directed, it is rubbed with oil, and forced 

 through the stuffing of the neck. It ought to be so construct- 

 ed by measurement, that the oval part of the wire shall be in 

 the centre of the body inside. The wires of the feet and legs, 

 as before directed, ought to be straight and pointed, and passed 

 through the soles of the feet as before. When the point has 

 penetrated, the other end of the wire may be bent, so that by 

 means of it we may be able to assist in forcing up the remain- 

 der of the wire. The two internal ends of the foot-wires are 

 twisted together, and curved within, so as to pass through 

 the small circle, or ring of the middle branch above the oval, 

 to each side of which they are now attached with a piece of 

 small string. 



The tail-bearer is constructed on the same principles, and 

 attached in the same manner as before described, and the lat- 

 ter apparatus is introduced after the neck and back are fin- 

 ished in the stuffing. 



This practice of introducing the neck-wire, after the neck 

 is stuffed, was first adopted at the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, 

 and is now invariably adopted in that establishment in prefer- 

 ence to introducing it before the neck is stuffed. The neck 

 of a swan or other long-necked and large birds, are even done 

 so. It is unquestionably the best plan which has hitherto been 

 discovered, as it preserves the cylindrical shape of the neck. 



MR BULLOCK'S METHOD OF STUFFING BIRDS. 



Mr Bullock of the London Museum, Egyptian Hall, had 

 another method of arranging the wires, which, after what we 



