Guide to Taxidermy 



to its whole surface. This is a rather tedious pro- 

 cess but it has to be done, otherwise in time, the fat 

 would "stew" through the breast and turn the 

 feathers a sickly, greasy yellow. 



Eagles, swans, loons, geese and large herons 

 have long wing bones and it is very difficult to 

 thoroughly clean them from the inside of the skin. 

 Such wings can best be cleaned by opening them on 

 the outside; hold back the feathers so as not to cut 

 any off and make a clean cut through the bare 

 tract. You can then clean out all the flesh, give 

 the skin a good coat of arsenic and sew the cut up. 

 This is always advisable on large birds as it en- 

 ables you to thoroughly poison just that portion of 

 the bird that is most frequently attacked by insect 

 pests. 



On large herons and cranes, it is well to make a 

 cut in the sole of the foot, and by inserting an awl 

 point under the tendons you can draw them out of 

 the leg, thus leaving a place for the leg wire and 

 avoiding danger of splitting the tarsal envelope 

 when you wire the leg. 







