66 TAXIDERMY. 



take unchopped flax and envelope the bone of the 

 leg and the wire with it, always winding it and in- 

 creasing it towards the top, until the thigh has at- 

 tained the size which it had when covered with 

 flesh ; we put a little thread round the flax to pre- 

 vent it from slipping. We then put the preserva- 

 tive on the skin and the factitious leg : and on put- 

 ting it back in its place we take care that the sur- 

 rounding feathers do not touch the preservative. 

 The leg-wires are united to that of the middle, 

 and to the wings, to which we tie them with pack- 

 thread. 



The wings of large birds are so fleshy, that the 

 preservative put in the body cannot reach them, 

 even when they are placed in a state of repose, and 

 the worms quickly attack them if we do not take the 

 precaution of opening them underneath. After 

 having taken away the feathers to extract all the 

 muscles or tendons with dentated pincers or a pair 

 of scissars, we furnish this part well with the pre- 

 servative, and cotton coarsely chopped, closing the 

 opening by sewing it with thread. The first joint 

 or bone of the arm should be entirely cleaned, 

 when skinning the bird. 



The fork of the tail-bearer must be much longer 

 for a large-tailed bird, such as the kite ; we bend 

 the two extremities of the fork horizontally, that it 

 may better support the tail ; we must also put pre- 

 servative above and below the rump, raising tlie 



