TAXIDERMY. 457 



any further displacement of its plumage by its painful struggles 

 to escape from our hands, is to squeeze it across the breast, or 

 under the wings, with the forefinger and thumb, but not suffi- 

 ciently strong, however, to break the bones. 



A small particle of cotton or fine tow should then be placed 

 in the bill to absorb any exudation that might otherwise run 

 from the mouth, and come in contact with the feathers; if the 

 wounds show any disposition to bleed, they should also be 

 lightly covered with the same material, to protect the plumage, 

 as it is often very difficult, and at all times requires very nice 

 handlinii', to cleanse the feathers from coagulated blood. 



This done, the Bird should be lightly grasped in the one 

 hand bv the head, while the other is used in dextrously 

 smoothing down the ruffled plumage; it should then be care- 

 fully wrapped up in a handkerchief or fine paper, and consigned 

 to one of our spare pockets till the close of the day's sport. The 

 following day or evening will be quite time enough to commence 

 the operation of skinning, as the blood will not be completely 

 coagulated till the lapse of several hours after death. 



The process of skinning Birds will at first seem very difficult 

 and awkward to the novice, but we can assure him that a little 

 patience and perseverance will soon overcome all the imaginary 

 perplexities with which he surrounds the matter ; and, before 

 he has finished his sixth specimen, he will be surprised to find 

 how easy a thing it is to skin a Bird — even far less troublesome 

 than to pull a Rabbit out of his furry hide. 



"In order to skin Birds, we must pass a needleful of thread 

 across the nostrils, tie it underneath the inferior mandible 

 (leaving the thread the length of the Bird), to prevent the blood 

 from coming out of the beak during the operation. 



"We have before said that, when a Bird is killed, we must 

 introduce a little cotton into its beak; we repeat this injunction, 

 because the beauty of a mounted Bird depends on the freshness 

 of its head ; it is easy to repair and clean the soiled feathers of 

 the belly and back, but not those of the head without a great 

 expense of time. 



"These precautions taken, we stretch the Bird on the table, 

 the head turned towards the left of the operator ; we divide the 

 feathers of the belly right and left with small forceps, pull out 



