BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [20] 



of large birds a piece of calico or cotton cloth sewed to the skin along 

 each edge of the incision will serve to keep the feathers from contact 

 with the fat, though even then an absorbent substance should be freely 

 used. 



Ducks and some other water birds when fat are particularly difficult 

 to clean, owing to the fact that the roots of the feathers form numerous 

 prominent points all over the inner surface of the skin, the spaces be- 

 tween them being filled with fat. In such cases the surface of the 

 fatty coating should be slightly gashed with the knife or scalpel to re- 

 lease the oily substance, which should then be gradually absorbed by a 

 persistent application and " rubbing in " of the absorbent substance. 

 Of course all free pieces of fat should be first cut away. 



Should the feathers have become greasy they should, after the bird 

 has been skinned and the inside of the skin itself cleaned, as above 

 directed, be washed with spirits of turpentine, and the latter removed 

 by absorption with corn meal, whiting, or plaster, repeatedly applied 

 and removed, the absorbent substance, when saturated with the turpen- 

 tine, being first shaken oft" and the feathers then carefully whipped with 

 a light elastic stick, until no more remains. This process is tedious, 

 but the excellent results amply repay for the time and trouble ex- 

 pended. 



The cleansing of water birds, especially sea birds, requiring special 

 treatment, the following directions (prepared, at our request, by Mr. 

 William Palmer), should be closely observed : 



As prevention is better than cure, time employed in taking proper 

 care of sea birds when first killed is well utilized ; but it seldom hap- 

 pens that one is able to do this, and therefore it becomes necessary to 

 spend more time in cleaning specimens than is desirable. When 

 freshly killed, if a sea bird is immediately hung up by the legs for sev- 

 eral hours, much vexatious work is spared the collector, but if one is 

 on a lonely shore, with miles to travel, this is impossible. A box, open 

 on top, but with movable slats on which to suspend the birds, is per- 

 hai)s the best plan to adopt in a boat or on shore where several hours 

 are spent. When tramping, specimens may be hung up or laid on 

 a rock or hummock until return, the object being to prevent friction 

 and pressure while the body is warm and lax. W hen cold and hard it 

 is best to wrap in cheese cloth, corn meal being freely used at the shot 

 holes, and the mouth and internal nostrils plugged just before wrapping. 

 But with even the greatest care the feathers will soil and it becomes 

 necessary to clean them. 



If a bird is very bloody when picked up, wipe off the excess of blood 

 with a piece of raw cotton, and do not, if possible, allow the blood to 

 get dry on the feathers ; never wash it until you are ready to skin, 

 unless you can dry also, and never wash in salt water if by any means 

 you can get fresh. 



