a ne pe i rina me a pa a Ere 
49 ON STUFFING BIRDS, 
“You will allow this to be just, after reflecting a moment 
on the nature of the fleshy parts and tendons, which are often 
leftin: Ist, They require to be well seasoned with aromatic 
spices; 2dly, They must be put into the oven to dry; 3dly, 
The heat of the fire and the natural tendency all cured flesh 
has to shrink and become hard, render the flesh withered, 
distorted, and too small; 4thly, The inside then becomes like 
a ham, or any other dried meat; ere long the insects claim it 
as their own, the feathers begin to drop off, and you have the 
hideous spectacle of death in ragged plumage. 
« Wire is of no manner of use, but,’on the contrary, a great 
nuisance, for where it is introduced a disagreeable stiffness and 
derangement of symmetry follow. 
“The head and neck can be placed in any attitude, the 
body supported, the wings closed, extended, or elevated, the 
tail depressed, raised, or expanded, the thighs set horizontal or 
oblique, without any aid from wire. Coiton will effect all 
this, : 
« A very smal! proportion of the skull bone, say, from the 
forepart of the eyes to the bill, is to be left in, though even 
this is not absolutely necessary. Part of the wing-bones, the 
jaw-bones, and half of the thigh-bones remain; every thing 
else, flesh, fat, eyes, bones, brains, and tendons, are all to be 
taken away. 
“ Introduce the cotton for an artificial body by means of a 
little stick like a knitting needle, and without any other aid or 
substance than that of this little stick and cotton, your own 
genius must produce those swellings and cavities, that just 
proportion, that elegance and harmony of the whole so much 
admired in animated nature, so little attended to in preserved 
specimens. After you have introduced the cotton, sew up the 
orifice you originally made in the belly, beginning at the vent. 
And from time to time, till you arrive at the last stitch, keep 
adding a little cotton, in order that there may be no deficiency 
there. Lastly, Dip your stick into the solution, and put it 
down the throat three or four times, in order that every part 
may receive it. 
«« When the head and neck are filled with cotton quite to 
your liking, close the bill as in nature. A little bit of bees 
wax at the point of it will Keep the mandibles in their proper 
