THK OOLOGIST 



81 



the wings separating at the elbow-joint. 

 Having finished this, skin over the head 

 to the bill, pull out the ears, take out 

 the eye-;, and after cleaning well, 

 sprinkle thoroughly with a mixture of 

 arsenic and alum, equal parts by 

 weight. 



Remove the brain by making a small 

 hole in the back of the. skull, after 

 powdering, amputate the head from the 

 body. As a general thing the heads of 

 weD-footed birds are too large to be 

 skinned in this manner. 



In this case, skin the neck as far as 

 possible, amputate and then an incision 

 must be made below the throat or at 

 the back of the head, which may now 

 be readily worked upon. After this, 

 proceed as with other birds, sewing up 

 the incision carefully, and placing the 

 feathers back, in their natural position. 

 Powder the skin well, being particular 

 to work it in, about the roots of the tail, 

 wings and legs. 



When the bird is large a slit should 

 be made on the under side of the wing 

 below the elbow, so that all muscles 

 and fibers may be removed. After stuff- 

 ing the wings with batting, previously 

 well powdered, aud tying the bones in 

 their ordinary position, sew up theslit, 

 smoothe aud place the feathers, stuff 

 the neck, legs and body with cotton and 

 sew up the first incision. 



The bird should then be placed in the 

 paper with a label attached, which 

 should contain the scientific and local 

 names Of the bird, its length from tip of 

 the tail to the end of the beak, its girth, 

 food found in the stomach, its sex, date 

 of procuring, locality and name of 

 the collector and any other data he 

 might see fit to put iu. 



If the feathers have become soiled by 

 blood, freely apply warm water to the 

 spots, and dry by sprinkling plaster- 

 paris or chalk over them. 



Oily spots .may be removed by the use 

 of a solution of potash or soda, say one- 

 half a teaspoonfull to a glass of water, 



and afterwards washiugwith pure warm 

 water and drying as before. 'Where the 

 feathers to be cleaned arc colored, ox or 

 sheep gall should be used, diluted 

 about one-half with water. 



It' any feathers are bent, they may be 

 straightened by holding them in steam 

 for a moment or two. 



Since our bird is finished it would not 

 be out of place to tell you why we have 

 prepared it. A" earnest student of 

 birds and their ways will find it of great 

 advantage to procure a good set of bird 

 skius; for by them he may readily iden- 

 tify birds and their eggs and also learn 

 the usefulness or destructiveness of dif- 

 ferent birds. 



J. Arthuk Williams, 

 Gait, Out. 



A Trick of the Crow. 



I have heard many stories of the tricks 

 and thefts of crows but none I think are 

 more extraordinary than the following 

 true story. It happened several years 

 ago and was like this: 



My brother, then about seven years 

 old, was sent with a dollar to pay the 

 washwoman. She was not at home so 

 he started to return. 



There wa> a Crow sitting on the low 

 roof of the house and as it seemed to be 

 watching him he thought he would try 

 to catch it. He tapped on the fence 

 with the money aud the Crow began to 

 walk along the edge of the roof and 

 finally jumped down to the fence aud 

 slowly walked toward him. He wasn't 

 thinking of the money but of catching 

 the bird. The Crow approached to 

 within perhaps a foot of his hand and 

 then suddenly jumped toward him and 

 flew up on the house again, — taking 

 with him the dollar. It sal there a 

 minute gazing down upon him and then 

 sailed away across the fields with the 

 shinning coin in his mouth. 



My brother came home crying and 



