336 ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 



the second will enable you to dissect ; and the third cause 

 you to dissect well. These may be called the mere 

 mechanical requisites. 



In stuffing, you require cotton, a needle and thread, a 

 little stick the size of a common knitting-needle, glass 

 eyes, a solution of corrosive sublimate, and any kind of a 

 common temporary box to hold the specimen. These also 

 may go under the same denomination as the former. But 

 if you wish to excel in the art, if you wish to be in orni- 

 thology what Angelo was in sculpture, you must apply to 

 profound study and your own genius to assist you. And 

 these may be called the scientific requisites. 



You must have a complete knowledge of ornithological 

 anatomy. You must pay close attention to the form and 

 attitude of the bird, and know exactly the proportion 

 each curve, or extension, or contraction, or expansion of 

 any particular part bears to the rest of the body. In a 

 word, you must possess Promethean boldness, and bring 

 down fire and animation, as it were, into your preserved 

 specimen. 



Eepair to the haunts of birds on plains and mountains, 

 forests, swamps, and lakes, and give up your time to 

 examine the economy of the different orders of birds. 



Then you will place your eagle in attitude commanding, 

 the same as Nelson stood in, in the day of battle, on the 

 Victory's quarter-deck. Your pie will seem crafty, and 

 just ready to take flight, as though fearful of being sur- 

 prised in some mischievous plunder. Your sparrow will 

 retain its wonted pertness by means of placing his tail a 

 little elevated, and giving a moderate arch to the neck. 

 Your vulture will show his sluggish habits by having his 

 body nearly parallel to the earth, his wings somewhat 

 drooping, and their extremities under the tail instead of 

 above it — expressive of ignoble indolence. 



