40 ON STUFFING BIRDS. 



" You will allow this to be just,, after reflecting a moment 

 on the nature of the fleshy parts and tendons, which are often 

 left in : 1st, They require to be well seasoned with aromatic 

 spices ; 2dly, They must be put into the oven to dry ; Sdly, 

 The heat of the fire and the natural tendency all cured flesh 

 iias to shrink and become hard, render the flesh withered, 

 distorted, and too small ; 4thly, The inside then becomes like 

 a ham, or any other dried meat ; ere long the insects claim it 

 as their own, the feathers begin to drop off, and you have the 

 hideous spectacle of death in ragged plumage. 



" Wire is of no manner of use, but, on the contrary, a great 

 nuisance, for where it is introduced a disagreeable stiffness and 

 derangement of symmetry follow. 



" The head and neck can be placed in any attitude, the 

 body supported, the wings closed, extended, or elevated, the 

 tail depressed, raised, or expanded, the thighs set horizontal or 

 oblique, without any aid from wire. Cotton will effect all 

 this. 



" A very small proportion of the skull bone, say, from the 

 forepart of the eyes to the bill, is to be left in, though even 

 this is not absolutely necessary. Part of the wing-bones, the 

 jaw-bones, and half of the thigh-bones remain ; every tiling 

 else, flesh, fat, eyes, bones, brains, and tendons, are all to be 

 taken away. 



" Introduce the cotton for an artificial body by means of a 

 little stick like a knitting needle, and without any other aid or 

 substance than that of this little stick and cotton, your own 

 genius must produce those swellings and cavities, that just 

 proportion, that elegance and harmony of the whole so much 

 admired in animated nature, so little attended to in preserved 

 specimens. After you have introduced the cotton, sew up the 

 orifice you originally made in the belly, beginning at the vent. 

 And from time to time, till you arrive at the last stitch, keep 

 adding a little cotton, in order that there may be no deficiency 

 there. Lastly, Dip your stick into the solution, and put it 

 down the throat three or four times, in order that every part 

 may receive it. 



" When the head and neck are filled with cotton quite to 

 your liking, close the bill as in nature. A little bit of bees 

 wax at the point of it will Keep the mandibles in their proper 



