ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 337 



In three or four days the feet lose their natu- PRESERVING 



BIRDS. 



ral elasticity, and the knees begin to stiffen. = 

 When you observe this, it is time to give the 

 legs any angle you wish, and arrange the toes 

 for a standing position, or curve them to your 

 finger. If you wish to set the bird on a branch, 

 bore a little hole under each foot, a little way 

 up the leg; and having fixed two proportional 

 spikes on the branch, you can, in a moment, 

 transfer the bird from your finger to it, and 

 from it to your finger, at pleasure. 



When the bird is quite dry, pull the thread 

 out of the knees, take away the needle, &c. from 

 under the bill, and all is done. In lieu of being 

 stiff with wires, the cotton will have given a con- 

 siderable elasticity to every part of your bird ; so 

 that, when perching on your finger, if you press 

 it down with the other hand, it will rise again. 

 You need not fear that your hawk will alter, or 

 its colours fade. The alcohol has introduced 

 the sublimate into every part and pore of the 

 skin, quite to the roots of the feathers. Its 

 use is twofold. 1st. It has totally prevented all 

 tendency to putrefaction ; and thus a sound skin 

 has attached itself to the roots of the feathers. 

 You may take hold of a single one, and from it 

 suspend five times the weight of the bird. You 

 may jerk it ; it will still adhere to the skin, and, 

 after repeated trials, often break short. 2dly. 



