328 ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 



PRESERVING jjj s s k m j s a i so pretty tough, and the feathers 



BIRDS. 



adhere to it. 



We will put close by us a little bottle of the 

 solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol ; also 

 a stick like a common knitting needle, and a 

 handful or two of cotton. Now fill the mouth 

 and nostrils of the bird with cotton, and place it 

 upon your knee on its back, with its head point- 

 ing to your left shoulder. Take hold of the 

 knife with your two first fingers and thumb, the 

 edge upwards. You must not keep the point of 

 the knife perpendicular to the body of the bird ; 

 because, were you to hold it so, you would cut 

 the inner skin of the belly, and thus let the bowels 

 out. To avoid this, let your knife be parallel to 

 the body, and then you will divide the outer skin 

 with great ease. 



Begin on the belly below the breast-bone, and 

 cut down the middle, quite to the vent. This 

 done, put the bird in any convenient position, 

 and separate the skin from the body, till you get 

 at the middle joint of the thigh. Cut it through, 

 and do nothing more there at present, except 

 introducing cotton all the way on that side, from 

 the vent to the breast-bone. Do exactly the same 

 on the opposite side. 



Now place the bird perpendicular, its breast 

 resting on your knee, with its back towards you. 

 Separate the skin from the body on each side at 

 the vent, and never mind at present the part from 



