26 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTORS 



attached and it is better to tie the two humeri together instead of pulling the 

 dorsal feather tracts together with a loop of thread. This makes it difficult 

 to insert a stick and several different methods of stuffing have been devised. 



(a) This dispenses with the stick altogether. Most of the back of the skull 

 is removed during cleaning. A smooth tapering stick such as a fine knitting 

 needle, polished wooden spindle, or porcupine quill is taken and a body built 

 up on this, to the same size as the bird's body, by twisting small lengths of 

 cotton wool or tow around it, the shape tapering away towards the top. 

 This body is inserted through the incision and up through the skull until the 

 stick protrudes from the bill and the cotton wool tip is in the throat. The 

 upper skin is arranged on the body while the stick is still in place and the skin 

 and body are then held in one hand while the stick is rotated and withdrawn 

 by the other, leaving one end of the cotton wool body protruding from the 

 incision. There is enough flexibility in this for the end to be bent and inserted 

 into the tail end of the skin, after which the body should regain its shape and 

 hold the skin rigid. The incision is often simply left open but it is advisable 

 to insert a few stitches to ensure that the wing is held in place. In this method 

 there is always the danger that if the body is not well-made the resultant skin 

 will be weak at the neck and if the skin is subjected to much handling the head 

 frequently becomes detached. 



(b) Another method is to prepare the bird and withdraw the stick as 

 described, but at the end to take a thin pointed stick such as a wooden 

 applicator (see appendix 1) and pass it through the cloaca and up through 

 the passage left by the withdrawal of the larger stick in the body until it 

 reaches the skull. The legs can be tied to the lower end of it and the skin 

 allowed to dry in the normal way. There may be difficulties with this 

 method if the cotton wool has expanded sufficiently to close the passage 

 formed by the original stick. 



(c) A third method is to begin stuffing by passing a stick through the 

 cloaca and out through the incision, then building up a cotton wool body on 

 the stick. Then ease this body into the tail end of the skin, compressing it 

 until the stick has been pushed back far enough for the tip to slip inside the 

 skin and be pushed up into the skull, the cotton wool body being allowed to 

 expand again as the stick is moved up. In this case a little additional 

 padding may have to be inserted. 



Skull pneumatization 



In a very young bird the upper cranium appears to consist of a single, very 

 thin, transparent bony layer. As the bird matures this will change to two 

 layers, separated by minute bars of bone between the two (fig. 19). At this 

 later stage the skull is more opaque. This pneumatization (or ossification 

 as it is sometimes incorrectly called) tends to occur first along the sides and 

 midline of the cranium and in subadult birds the hinder part of the skull will 

 show transparent patches, or "windows", where the separation has not yet 

 formed (fig. 19). In a few species these windows may persist, but in most 

 birds the separation gradually forms, the length of time varying from one 

 species to another. Since the existence of such windows may indicate the 

 age of a specimen, a statement that pneumatization was complete or a small 



