138 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



towards the making or marring of the bird. If walking, let the front 

 leg be well forward. Most birds of prey, Harriers excepted, show the 

 foot only when resting. In the matter of attitudes, throw over the stereotyped 

 and indulge in striking positions from the start. One is always told to 

 go straight to Nature, and so you may if there is any chance of your 

 meeting it, which in the case of most rare birds there isn't. I therefore 

 always carry about with me a rough sketch-book containing copies of pictures 

 culled from the choicest bird-books, and very valuable I have found them. 

 A bird running or settling with uplifted wings adds a life-like element 

 to a shore-birds' case. A victim beneath its foot, with the blood represented 

 by sealing-wax, is an obvious addition to any raptorial bird. A badly 

 damaged breast should be hidden by making the bird lie down if it happens 

 to be a shore-bird, and the operation of wing-cleaning is sometimes a 

 useful antidote to a battered head. 



Above all things, don't hurry this part of the operations ; it is more 

 important than the skinning, but one is apt to get slack after the latter, 

 and the bird is rushed into the first position that seems to suit. If time 

 presses, it is better to fill the skin with damp cotton-wool, and put it 

 aside until one has leisure to attend to the stuffing with proper care. When 

 the bird is stuffed, keep your eye on it for some days. The skin will shrink 

 as it dries, and it is necessary to continually hitch up the parts about the 

 neck and shoulders with a needle, so long as this process is going on. 

 Sometimes, in hot weather, the skin around the beak may have received 

 too little of the preservative, and show a tendency to decay. If so, anoint 

 it with corrosive or benzine, otherwise the feathers will come out en masse. 

 If the birds have to travel, bore holes in their stands, four in each, and 

 corresponding ones in the bottom of a cardboard box. Pass two strings 

 through each stand, and then through the box, and tie firmly on the outside. 



A word on alterations and repairs. More can be done to resurrect 

 inferior specimens than is generally supposed. I once bought a Harrier, 

 which at the time could have been used only as a scarecrow; it is now 

 a respectable bird. In such cases half measures are useless. Don't trust 

 to a relaxing box. More satisfactory results are to be got out of a basin 

 of water with vinegar in it. To do any good, you must get the skin 

 thoroughly under control, and this is the most effective way of doing it. 

 When the skin has been soaked long enough, it can be kneaded inside with 

 a piece of smooth wood, and afterwards rubbed with an old shaving-brush 

 dipped in water. The feathers will then become fairly obedient to the 

 modeller. The danger, as usual, centres round the throat and cheeks ; the 



