BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [22] 



no part of it is exposed.* While a pair of long foreceps is usually used 

 for inserting the cotton through the neck, a far handier tool for the 

 purpose is an ordinary kuittiug needle, around which the cotton ma}^ 

 be deftly twisted aud shaped, while the smooth needle can be much 

 more easily withdrawn than can a pair of forceps. This same needle 

 may also be used for shaping the eyelids, by pushing from the inside 

 the wad of cotton which fills the orbit, and is convenient for other pur- 

 poses. 



The next step is to take a wad of cotton and. manipulate it into an 

 oval, loose or fluffy, ball, as near as possible the size and. shape of the 

 original body. Insert one end of this into the opening of the skin, 

 beneath the end of the neck roll, which should be carefully raised and 

 held while the body stuffing is worked beneath it 5 then taking hold of 

 the edge of the incision, first on one side and then on the other, push 

 the cotton into place, or else, by holding the cotton, gently pull the skin 

 over it. A single stich, about the middle of the incision, is sufficient to 

 close the opening, but even this is not necessary. 



Should the bird be of medium or large size, the leg bones should be 

 wrapped with cotton (or whatever material has been used for stuffing), 

 so as to give the thigh its proper shape. 



All birds with long necks or tender skins should be stiffened by 

 wrapping the neck stuffing as well as that of the body around a wire or 

 stick. If a wire, it should be sharpened at both ends, the anterior end 

 being forced through the anterior portion of the head and the opposite 

 end through the root of the tail. If a stick is used the anterior end 

 may be blunt and fitted into the cavity of the skull, or it may be sharp- 

 ened and forced into the bones of the palate or anterior portion of the 

 head. All water birds (especially ducks and small waders), as well as 

 doves, trogous, Gaprimulgidce, and other tender skinned birds, should 

 be thus strengthened. 



Now comes one of the most important and in some respects the most 

 difficult parts of the whole operation — the shaping or "making up "of 

 the specimen. No matter how faultlessly the bird has been skinned, or 

 even stuffed, if badly " made up " it will be a bad specimen, while on 

 the other hand many defects of either skinning or stuffing may be hidden 

 by careful manipulation at this important stage of the process. To do 

 this properly proceed as follows: 



Take a thin sheet of long-stapled raw cotton (the thinner the better, 

 if it only holds together and will stand the least strain) of sufficient 

 size to entirely inclose the bird when wrapped around it. Lay this on 



*Many taxidermists, instead of passing the cotton along the throat to the mouth, 

 pnsh the end of it into the cavity of the skull, and (ill the throat with bits of loose 

 cotton passed through the mouth. This is a very good method, especially if the head 

 is bent so that its axis reposes at more or less of an angle with that of the body, 

 specimens thus prepared being far easier to mount than those which have been made 

 with the axis of the liead continuous with that of the body. 



