TAXIDERMY. 57 



feathers may not stick to them ; we force up or push 

 out. the thighs within the body of the skin, cut them 

 between the femur and tibia (/*and t plate 2,) in 

 such a manner, that the former remains to be after- 

 wards pushed back into the skin. By the help of 

 the scalpel and the fingers, we detach the skin as 

 far as the rump, which we cut off. It is essential 

 for this part to remain attached to the skin to sus- 

 tain the tail-feathers. We then take the already 

 uncovered part of the body with the left hand, and 

 continue to separate the skin from the two sides ; we 

 cut some little tendons which we find before we 

 come to the wings, with the scissars ; we separate 

 the wings from the trunk, at the junction of the 

 humerus with the body, and restore them to their 

 proper place. We continue to skin the neck, 

 thrusting the head from within as we have described 

 .for quadrupeds, and we uncover it, taking care not 

 to enlarge the opening of the ears, and above all to 

 be particularly attentive not to injure the eyelids in 

 taking out the eyes, which are easily picked out 

 with the closed points of the scissars ; we replace 

 the eye with chopped cotton, with which we fill the 

 orbits. We separate the neck, take out the tongue, 

 and carefully remove all the flesh which is between 

 the two branches of the inferior mandible. We 

 enlarge the occipital hole, to extract the brain, by 

 means of an iron instrument resembling an ear 

 picker; and, to finish cleaning out the inside of the 

 D 5 



