ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 327 



down the plumage through the shot holes. As PRESERVING 



blood will often have issued out before you have ~ 



laid hold of the bird, find out the shot holes, 

 by dividing the feathers with your fingers, and 

 blowing on them, and then, with your penknife, 

 or the leaf of a tree, carefully remove the clotted 

 blood, and put a little cotton on the hole. If, 

 after all, the plumage has not escaped the marks 

 of blood ; or if it has imbibed slime from the 

 ground, wash the part in water, without soap, 

 and keep gently agitating the feathers, with your 

 fingers, till they are quite dry. Were you to 

 wash them, and leave them to dry by themselves, 

 they would have a very mean and shrivelled 

 appearance. 



In the act of skinning a bird, you must either Act of km- 



T n ' n 8 l k" 



have it upon a table, or upon your knee. Pro- bird, 

 bably, you will prefer your knee ; because, when 

 you cross one knee over the other, and have the 

 bird upon the uppermost, you can raise it to 

 your eye, or lower it, at pleasure, by means of 

 the foot on the ground, and then your knee 

 will always move in unison with your body, by 

 which much stooping will be avoided and lassi- 

 tude prevented. 



With these precautionary hints in mind, we 

 will now proceed to dissect a bird. Suppose we 

 take a hawk. The little birds will thank us, 

 with a song for his death, for he has oppressed 

 them sorely; and in size he is just the thing. 



