26 SKINNING. 
for the manner of separating the feathers, and using the 
scalpel.) A sharp pen-kniie, or scalpel (see plate LY. fig. | 
_ and 2), must be inserted at the point of the bone, and cut the 
_ outer skin from thence to the vent, taking care not to penetrate | 
so deep as the flesh, or upon the inner skin which covers the | 
intestines. The skin will then easily be separated from the | 
| flesh ; in larger specimens, by the fingers, or, in smaller ones, 
| by passing a small blunt instrument betwixt the skin and body, 
such as the end of the scalpel handle: with this you may reach | 
the back. The thighs should now be pressed inwards, as in | 
| the common method of skinning a rabbit, and the skin turned | 
back, so far as to enable you to separate the legs from the 
body, at the knee-joint. The skin is then pulled downwards, 
as low as the rump, which is cut close by the insertion of the 
| tail, as shown at plate ITI. fig. 2,@; but in such a manner as | 
_ not to injure its feathers. The skin is now drawn upwards the | 
length of the wings, the bones of which must also be cut at the | 
shoulder-joints (see plate I. fig. 1, a.) ; it is then pulled up, | 
till all the back part of the skull is laid bare, when the ver- | 
tebre of the neck are separated from the head, from 6. in plate | 
I. fig. 1. ; and the whole body is now separated from the skin. 
_ You next proceed to remove the brain, through the opening of — 
the skull, for which purpose it may be enlarged by a hollow | 
chissel, or other iron instrument. The eyes must then be taken 
out, by breaking the slender bones, which separate the orbits 
from the top of the mouth, in which you may be assisted by 
pressing the eyes gently inwards, so as not to break them. In | 
skinning the neck, great care must be taken not to enlarge | 
_ the opening of the ears, and not to injure the eyelids. The 
| whole of the flesh is next to be removed from the under man- 
_ dible. 
Several species will not admit of the skin being thus pulled 
over their heads, from the smallness of their necks; some 
Woodpeckers, Ducks, Coots, &c., fall under this description; 
in which case a longitudinal incision is made under the throat, 
| so as to admit of the head being turned out, which must 
_ be neatly sewed up before stuffing. The flesh from the head, 
wings, legs, and rump, must then be carefully removed with 
_a knife or scalpel, and the cavities of the skull filled with 
_ cotton or tow. The whole inside of the skin, head, &c., must 
