ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 



your idea of the real appearance of the bird from 

 a dead specimen, you will be in error. With 

 this in mind, and at the same time forming your 

 specimen a trifle larger than life, to make up for 

 what it will lose in drying, you will reproduce 

 a bird that will please you. 



It is now time to introduce the cotton for an 

 artificial body, by means of the little stick like a 

 knitting needle; and without any other aid or 

 substance than that of this little stick and cotton, 

 your own genius must produce those swellings 

 and cavities, that just proportion, that elegance 

 and harmony of the whole, so much admired in 

 animated nature, so little attended to in preserved 

 specimens. After you have introduced the cotton, 

 sew up the orifice you originally made in the 

 belly, beginning at the vent. And from time to 

 time, till you arrive at the last stitch, keep adding 

 a little cotton, in order that there may be no 

 deficiency there. Lastly, dip your stick into the 

 solution, and put it down the throat three or four 

 times, in order that every part may receive it. 



When the head and neck are filled with cotton 

 quite to your liking, close the bill as in nature. 

 A little bit of bees' wax, at the point of it, will 

 keep the mandibles in their proper place. A 

 needle must be stuck into the lower mandible 

 perpendicularly. You will shortly see the use of 

 it. Bring also the feet together by a pin, and 

 then run a thread through the knees, by which 



PRESERVING 

 BIRDS. 



