30 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY. 



• 

 way ; for large ones, rest the aifair on the table or your lap. To skin the head, secure the 

 body in the position just indicated, by contining the neck between your left thumb and fijre- 

 iinger ; bring the right fingers and thumb to a cone over the head, and draw it out with gentlr 

 force; or, holding the head itself between the loft thumb and forefinger, insert the hand](^ of 

 the scalpel between the skin and skull, and pry a httle, to enlarge the neck-cylinder of skin 

 enough to let the head pass. It will generally^ slip out of its hood very readily, as far as its 

 greatest diameter ; ^ there it sticks, being in fact pinned by the ears. Still holding the bird as 

 before, with the point of the scalpel handled like a nut-picker, or with your thumb-nail, detacli 

 the delicate membrane that Unes the ear-opening ; do the same for the other ear. Tlie skull is 

 then shelled out to the eyes, and will skin im fiutlier of its own accord, being again attached 

 by a membrane, around the border of the eye-socket. Holding the scalpel as before, run its 

 edge around an arc (a semicircle is enough to let you into the orbit) of the circumference, dis- 

 severing the membrane from the bone. Reverse the scalpel, and scoop out the eyeball with 

 the end of the handle ; you bring out the eye betwixt the ball of your thumb and the handle 

 of the instrument, tearing apart the optic nerve and the conjunctival tissue, but taldng care 

 uot to iipen the eyeball^ or lacerate the eyelids. Do the same with the other eye. The head 

 is then skinned far enougli ; there is no use of getting C[uite to the base of the bill. You have 

 now to get rid of the brain and flesh of the nape and jaws,* and leave most of the skull in; the 

 cranial dome makes the only perfect " stufling" for the skin of the head. This is all done at once 

 by only four jiarticular cuts. Hold the head between your left thumb and fingers, the biU point- 

 ing towards you, the bird's palate facing you ; you observe a space bounded behind by the base 

 of the skull where the neck joins, in front by the floor of the mouth, on either side by the prongs 

 of the under jaw, — these last especially prominent. Take the scissors ; stick one blade just 

 inside one branch of the lower jaw, thence into the eye-socket which lies below (the head 

 being upside down), thence into the brain-box ; make a cut parallel with the jaw, just inside 

 of it, bringing the upper scissor lilade perpendicularly downward, crashing through the skull just 

 inside of the angle of the jaw. Duplicate this cut on the other side. Connect the anterior 

 ends of these outs by a transverse one across the floor and roof of the mouth. Connect the 

 posterior ends of the side cuts by one across the back of the skuU near its base, — just wliere 

 the nape-muscle ceases to override the cranium. You have enclosed and cut out a scpiaiisli- 

 sliaped mass of bone and muscle, and, on gently pulling the neck (to which of course it 

 remains attached), the whole affair comes out, bringing the brain with it, but leaving the 

 entire roof of the skull supported on a scaffolding of jaw-bone. It only renuiins to sldn the 

 wings. Seize the arm-stump with fingers or forceps ; the upper arm is readily drawn from its 

 sheath as far as the elbow ; but the wing must be skinned to the wrist (carpus — "bend of 

 the wing") ; yet it will not come out so easily, because the secondary quiUs grow to one of the 

 fore-arm bones (the ulna), pinning down the skiu the wliole way along a series of points. To 

 break up these connections, hold the upper arm firmly with the left thumb and forefinger, the 

 convexity of the elbow looking towards you ; press tlie right thumb-n;xil closely against the 

 back edge of the ulna, and strip downward, scraping the bone with the nail the whole way. 

 If you only hit the line of adhesions, there is no trouble at all about this. Now you want to 



1 The special case of head too large for the calibre of the neck is treated beyond. 



' And yon will at once find a great apparent increase of amount of free skin in your hand, owing to release 

 and extension of all that was before shortened in length by circular distension, in enlargement of the neck- 

 cylinder. 



' An eyeball is much larger than it looks from the outside ; if you stick the instrument straight into the 

 socket, you may punch a hole in tlie ball and let out the water; a very disagreeable complication. Insinuate the 

 knife-handle close to the ritn of the socket, and hug the wall of the cavity throughout. 



' You may of course at this stage cut oft' the neck at the nape, punch a hole in the base of the skull, dig out 

 the brains, and scrape away at the jaw-musclea till you are satisfied or tired ; an unnecessary job, during which 

 the skin may have become dry and shrivelled and bard to turn right side out. The operation described in the 

 text may require ten seconds, perhaps. 



