THE OOLOGIST 



21 



and the feathers are quite dry and 

 fluffy as in life. A little of the saw- 

 dust may cling tenaciously among the 

 bases of the feathers, but it will never 

 give the specimen a dusty appearance 

 as plaster sometimes will. The saw- 

 dust is also very useful in drying 

 black feathers, a crown plumage for 

 instance, which is likely to have a 

 grayish appearance if plaster is used. 



The use of very fine hard-wool saw- 

 dust for this purpose was first brought 

 to my attention by Mr. Edward R. 

 Adams, formerly a collector for the 

 Biological Survey, who uses this 

 method extensively on many different 

 kinds of birds. I have given it a fair 

 trial and find that it gives very good 

 results. 



Another source of trouble to the 

 amateur taxidermist is the difficulty of 

 keeping in place the wings of large 

 birds, such as eagles, ospreys or 

 herons. Their wings keep slipping 

 out of place when shaping up a skin 

 unless some extra precautions are 

 taken to avoid it. Of course, any book 

 will tell you to tie the wing bones to- 

 gether inside the skin. But, besides 

 doing this, there is another trick of 

 the trade which is much greater help. 

 When you are finishing up the skin of 

 a bird with large, heavy wings which 

 seem to refuse to stay where they be- 

 long, use an extra long needle and 

 take a stitch with strong twine 

 through the wing of the bird some- 

 where about opposite the middle of the 

 radius and ulna bones, pass the needle 

 clear through the body and out 

 through the corresponding part of the 

 opposite wing and then return it 

 through the body so as to include 

 enough of the bones of each wing to 

 enable you to pull them tightly up 

 against the sides of the body and tie 

 them securely. 



You can easily lap some of the wing 

 coverts over the knot to conceal it. 



Some difficulty may be experienced in 

 passing the needle through the body if 

 you have used cotton batting as part 

 of the filling material, but with little 

 patience and perseverance , you can 

 accomplish it. 



A second similar stitch taken 

 through the body far enough back 

 from the shoulders so that it will in- 

 clude the shafts of some of the stiff 

 feathers of the wings will effectually 

 settle the question of holding the 

 wings where they belong and will give 

 a better shaped cabinet specimen than 

 I can obtain by any other means. 



A couple of hints on making skins 

 of large herons may be helpful. 1 

 used to make heron skins in all the 

 various shapes and styles which I 

 have ever described in print, and was 

 usually more or less dissatisfied with 

 the results, so after a while I began to 

 make them up after a fashion of my 

 own which seems to me to be an im- 

 provement over the ordinary way. i 

 make the back of the heron skin the 

 "show side" by laying the bird on its 

 breast with the feet doubled up under- 

 neath the skin, the legs being tied 

 neatly together at both ends of the 

 tarsu to keep them in place. Then let 

 the head and neck extend straight for- 

 ward, lying flat with the head turned 

 so as to lay on its side with the bill 

 pointing forward nearly in line with 

 the body. 



I realize that the objection may be 

 raised that a skin made in this man- 

 ner is not so compact and easy to 

 handle or to pack for shipment as one 

 which has the neck bent over to lay 

 on the back or along the edge of one 

 of the wings, but when the beauty of 

 the skin as a cabinet specimen is con- 

 sidered, there can be no question but 

 what this method displays the bird in 

 a much more pleasing manner than 

 any other. The feathers of a heron's 

 upper parts are firm and smooth and 



