TAXIDERMY. Si 



shades and dispositions of the colours in the natural 

 bird, and to use them advantageously in the facti- 

 tious one. We must be careful not to place more 

 than one feather at a time, and to cut the quills of 

 all, to allow the paste to insinuate itself. After 

 having done all this, we give the bird its natural 

 position; placing the back upwards, we put the 

 gum on the rump, and paste the feathers which 

 cover this part. Before we paste the dorsal feti- 

 tliers, we fasten the wings, by placing a little gum- 

 med cotton in the place they are to occupy, and to 

 make them hold we put in some pins through the 

 beards of the feathers, which will hide the heads. 

 The wings once fastened, we paste on the scapulary 

 feathers in the same manner, and then all those of 

 the back. The head will be pierced by the wire of 

 the neck, we pull it down to a proper distance, and 

 fix it by introducing gummed cotton into the skn 

 and round the neck, which will be made larger thai, 

 nature, as it will shrink in drying, and is to receive 

 the shortest and least downy feathers ; we continue 

 to paste the rest of the feathers until they mingle 

 with those of the head. 



We agree that it is almost impossible to succeed 

 perfectly in the first trial; but if practice and expe- 

 rience are necessary in other things, they are par- 

 ticularly so for this part of taxidermy. Nevertheless, 

 for the sake of aptness and correctness in the exe- 

 cution, we advise a sort of apprenticeship, by get* 

 E 5 



