[4 OF MOUNTING DRIED SKINS. 
METHOD OF MOUNTING DRIED SKINS, 
Having treated of all the different modes, which we know 
can be successfully practised, in stuffing recent specimens, we 
must now say something respecting the setting up of skins 
which have been preserved by travellers, and sent home from 
distant parts. 
The general method is exactly the same as in stuffing recent 
specimens. There are, however, some preliminary steps, which 
it is necessary to know. 
If the specimen sent home has been partially stuffed, our 
first business is to undo the stitches, if it hasbeen sewed— 
which was an unnecessary process. We then remove the whole 
cotton or tow from the inside, by the assistance of forceps, and 
from the neck with a small piece of wire, twisted or hooked at 
the end, Having finished this, small balls of wet cotton are 
placed in the orbits of the eyes, and the legs and feet are 
wrapped round with wet cotton or linen rags. A damp cloth is 
then thrown over the bird, and it is allowed to remain in this 
state till next day. The neck and body are then filled with 
wet linen or cotion, and it will be ready for commencing setting 
up in four or five hours. : 
The eyes are now put in, as directed in the recent subjects, 
and then stuffed in exactly the same manner. Some difficulty 
will, however be experienced with respect to the leg-wires, and 
it will require more time and care, from the dryness of the legs, 
to get the wire to penetrate. Having proceeded so far as to 
get the bird generally formed, the wings are next adjusted: 
this also is frequently difficult, owing to the stiffness of the 
tendons, and want of proper attention in skinning and drying 
them at first. Indeed with some of the South American birds, 
a proper adjustment of the wings is found impracticable, owing 
to the attempts of the native Indians of Guyana, who seldom 
dispose them properly. Tiere is something extremely curious 
in the efforts of man in a savage state. Whether this arises 
from want of observation, or a vitiated taste, it is difficult to 
say; but it is a notorious fact, that any attempt at art, by an 
uncivilized people, is generally widely different from what the 
object is in nature: and yet the opportunities of these people 
