TAXIDERMY. 77 



prepare them. In this case we are obliged to cut 

 them very close to the body; we separate the sen- 

 pulary feathers, and soften them to give them the 

 desired form ; we put them back into their respect- 

 ive places, and keep therif there by wrapping them 

 round with several small bands of sheet lead. 

 When they are very dry we paste them in their 

 places with cotton dipped in gum and preservative, 

 as well as the scapulary feathers ; we then encircle 

 the bird with small bands of fine linen, and leave it 

 in this state until it be perfectly dry. 



If, during the operation, some of the feathers fall 

 off, we carefully preserve them. When the bird 

 is quite dry, we take away the bands of linen and 

 arrange the feathers in their proper order; if we 

 find any which have taken a wrong direction, we 

 pull them out, and again paste them in, doing the 

 same with those which have fallen out. For this 

 it will be sufficient to take the feather with the nip- 

 pers and put some gum on with the point of a long 

 pin, and with a needle, which we hold in our left 

 hand, we raise the feathers in the place where vre 

 nre going to fix the loose ones. 



Of Birds mounted Feather by Feather. 



We often receive birds from distant countries in 

 such a state of decay, that it is impossible for us to 

 E 3 



