TAXIDERMY. 



wards ; then bend the tibia to bring the body for- 

 ward : before this operation, the tibia and tarsus were 

 in a straight line ; they now form the natural angle as 

 in the leg of the bird, plate 2. When it is well 

 placed we bend or turn the head according to the 

 attitude we wish to give the bird, and afterwards 

 arrange the wings. It only remains to smooth the 

 feathers into their natural position, and, to keep them 

 in place, we encircle the bird with small fillets 

 of gauze or muslin, fastened with a pin. When 

 the bird is quite dry, we take away the fillets, cut 

 the wire of the head as close as possible to tire 

 skull, place it on a new foot of turned wood, pro- 

 portioned to its size, write the name of the genus 

 and the species on a ticket of white card, and fix it 

 on the upright of the foot with a little gum. 



The frame-work we have just described is 

 the most simple, and principally for small birds. 

 We will now mention another, which answers for 

 the smallest as well as the largest birds, and which 

 we adopt in preference. It is, like the preceding, 

 composed of four pieces. The first or centre ought 

 to be nearly twice the length of the bird, we bend it 

 at a third of its length in the form of an oval, twist 

 it two turns, then pass the shortest end into the oval, 

 and raise it against the longer end, so as to form a 

 ring at the end, or beyond the oval, big enough to 

 receive he two wires from the claws ; we twist it a 



