50 



Guide to Taxidermy 





head on the side, choosing the side that is the poor- 

 er of the two or the side opposite that which is in- 

 tended to be the front of the completed specimen. 



After the head is skinned, brains removed, eyes 

 taken ont and skull poisoned and filled with cotton, 

 turn it back and carefully sew the edges of the 

 cut together with close, continuous stitches ; be care- 

 ful not to catch any of the feathers under the 

 tliread, and the liead will look as well as ever, show- 

 ing no traces of the cut or thread. If you open 

 your bird on the back of its head, you will find that 

 it will facilitate the work if you have a round hole 

 in your bench in which you can stick the bill of the 

 bird; this holds his head firmly in the position you 

 M^ant it and also allows you two hands to work with. 



Some of the ducks and gannets are among the 

 most difficult of birds to skin. The skin sticks to 

 them as tightly as if glued, and has to be cut away 

 from nearly the whole body; any attempt to push 

 the flesh away from the skin only results in shov- 

 ing your fingers through the skin, which is inelastic 

 and apparently brittle. Again these birds are al- 

 ways fat and greasy. After skinning you have to 

 "clip" the hide, that is cut off the fat that adheres 



