ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 343 



preserve the feathers from grease and stains. Place the 

 bird upon your knee on its back; tie together the 

 two threads which you had fastened to the end of the 

 wing-joints, leaving exactly the same space betwixt them 

 as your knowledge in anatomy informs you existed there 

 when the bird was entire ; hold the skin open with your 

 finger and thumb, and apply the solution to every part of 

 the inside. Neglect the head and neck at present ; they 

 are to receive it afterwards. 



Fill the body moderately with cotton, lest the featliers 

 on the belly should be injured whilst you are about the 

 following operation. You must recollect that half of the 

 thigh, or in other words, one joint of the thigh-bone, has 

 been cut away. Now, as this bone never moved perpen- 

 dicular to the body, but, on the contrary, in an oblique 

 direction, of course, as soon as it is cut off, the remaining 

 part of the thigh and leg, having nothing now to support 

 them obliquely, must naturally fall to their perpendicular. 

 Hence the reason why the legs appear considerably too 

 long. To correct this, take your needle and thread, fasten 

 the end round the bone inside, and then push the needle 

 through the skin just opposite to it. Look on the outside, 

 and after finding the needle amongst the feathers, tack up 

 the thigh under the wing with several strong stitches. 

 This will shorten the thigh, and render it quite capable of 

 supporting the weight of the body without the help of 

 wire. This done, take out every bit of cotton, except the 

 artificial thighs, and adjust the wdng-bones (which are con- 

 nected by the thread) in the most even manner possible, so 

 that one joint does not appear to lie lower than the other ; 

 for unless they are quite equal, the wings themselves will 

 be unequal when you come to put them in their proper 

 attitude. Here then rests the shell of the poor hawk, 

 ready to receive, from your skill and judgment, the size, 



