38 ON STUFFING BIRDS. 



pel, while every endeavour was made to preserve all the liga- 

 ments. He then anointed the skin with the arsenical soap> 

 and also the skeleton, and then returned it to its place within 

 the skin, and carefully disposed of the feathers on either side. 

 He formed a ring on a piece of iron-wire at nearly a third of 

 the length of the wire, and passed this wire through the head; 

 the smallest side passed into the rump in such a manner, that 

 the iron-ring came under the sternum ; a leg-wire was then 

 passed through each leg, so that the ends of them united to 

 pass into the little ring in the middle of the back bone, where 

 they were secured with a string. The flesh of the muscles was 

 replaced by flax, or chopped cotton ; and when he had satis- 

 fied himself with the form, it was then sewed up, placed on a 

 foot-board, or support of wood, where he gave it the attitude 

 intended, of which he was always certain, for a bird mounted 

 in this manner can only be placed in a natural attitude. 



Becceur mounted quadrupeds in the same manner, and with 

 equal success. 



M. MAUGE'S METHOD OF STUFFING BIRDS. 



This naturalist had a method of preparation and stuffing, of 

 which he was the inventor, and which he practised with con- 

 siderable success. It was as follows : (The bird is supposed 

 to be a small one.) 



He took two pieces of wire, in length and thickness required 

 for the bird he was about to stuff. One of these was some- 

 what longer than the other. The longer piece he pointed at 

 both ends with a file, and the shortest piece at one end only. 

 One end of each wire was held under the fore finger and thumb 

 of the left hand ; he then twisted the other parts five or six 

 times round, about three quarters of an inch from the point of 

 the other wire with the finger and thumb of the right hand, 

 leaving an untwisted space large enough for a finger to pass 

 through ; he now twisted it four or five times more, leaving a 

 second space untwisted for the purpose of passing the feet- wire 

 through, and also of producing a triangular form with the first 

 interval he had left untwisted, the smaller opening being one 

 turn above the triangle. 



The wires for the feet were straight, and pointed at one end 



