THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OotLocists’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 9 
will answer) part the feathers along the middle line of the abdomen 
from the vent to the lower end of the breast-bone. A bare space will 
be seen and here the incision is to be made, cutting only through the 
skin, from the end of the breast-bone down to and into the vent. This 
latter makes a sort of button-hole termination to the cut, and it is not 
apt to be torn in manipulation. Now with the blade of your knife 
carefully separate the skin from the flesh along the line of the cut. 
Take hold of the cut skin with the fingers or tweezers and keep work- 
ing carefully, lifting the skin from the flesh (no force or cutting is 
required) until you meet with an obstacle—this is the thigh. Lay 
down your knife and taking hold of the leg, push it up inside the 
skin, (easily done) and with the scissors sever bone and muscle at the 
knee joint. Skin down the leg which will come out of the skin, like 
a finger out of a glove, to the heel joint. Scrape all the flesh off the 
bone and draw the leg-bone into its sheath and leave it. Repeat the 
operation on the other side, and remember that all this time the feath- 
ers along the edges of the cut have an unhappy tendency to get into 
the opening you’ve made. This can be prevented by putting a little 
cotton between the raised skin and body of the bird, and all the time 
you are working keep the flesh covered with the meal or plaster—this 
absorbs the juices and keeps the feathers from getting soiled. Having 
skinned both legs and worked the skin loose down to the tail, the next 
step is seperating this from the body. ill the tail feathers are insert- 
ed into what is popularly known as the ‘“‘pope’s nose.”’ Set the bird 
upright on its breast on the table press the tail backwards, take the 
scissors and snipping away at the junction of the ‘‘pope’s nose” and 
body until you sever the tail-stump from the body. Great care is re- 
quired here, for if you through <arelessness cut the skin, the cut will 
wander around and the first thing you know you have a tail-less bird 
skin. After the tail is severed from the body, use the ‘back of your 
scalpel and separate the skin carefully from the rump (the adhesion 
between the skin and body is stronger here than at any other point.) 
If you will now take your fishhook, attach a string to it, stick the 
hook into a firm part of the rump and hang the bird up where it will 
swing freely about the heighth of your breast, you will have both hands 
free to work with. Having hung your bird, work the skin away from 
the body, using the back of the scalpel blade or your finger nails for 
the purpose. Never pull a skin, as it will either tear or stretch so 
badly that all the after manipulations will fail to make a good speci- 
