PREPARING BIRD SKINS FOR MOUNTING. 99 



CHAPTER XIII. 



PREPARING BIRD SKINS FOR MOUNTING. 



In removing the skin from a bird, the body should be 

 dusted from time to time with corn-meal, or fine saw- 

 dust. This absorbs all moisture, and prevents the plu- 

 mage from being soiled. 



Some writers recommend the use of plaster when skin- 

 ning birds. That this should be effective is an erroneous 

 idea, inasmuch as it dries the skins so quickly that it is 

 difficult to "return" them. If applied to the necks of 

 some species of woodpeckers and parrots, it would be im- 

 possible to return them to their natural position. Plaster 

 fills the pores of one's skin, chaps and cracks the hands, 

 and, when mixed with grease in preparing fat birds, it is 

 removed only with great difficulty from the hands. Corn- 

 meal softens the hands, and is the best absorbent when 

 "working on" small birds. 



When preparing a skin, place the bird on its back, and 

 run a long piece of cotton loosely down the throat with 

 forceps, or by twisting it around the end of a wire. If 

 the specimen be a large bird, plug the nostrils with cot- 

 ton, to prevent the saliva from oozing and soiling the 

 plumage. Break the wing-bones near the body to fa- 

 cilitate handling. Make a longitudinal cut from the 

 breast-bone to the vent, and push the body away from 

 the skin with the knife, holding the skin firmly be- 

 tween the thumb and fingers of the left hand, and cut- 

 ting as little as possible. 



When the skin has been removed far enough to expose 

 the shins, slip them up and un joint them at the knee, and 

 cut through the flesh until the skin is lain bare. Flay 

 down to the vent, cut off the extremity of the body which 



