ON PEESERVING BIRDS FOR CABINETS OF 

 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Faults in bird-stuffiiig. — Tools required. — Knowledge of anatomy. — 

 Attitudes of birds. — Flow of the plumage. — How to skin a bird. — 

 Inserting cotton. — Killing wounded birds. — Stuffing a hawk.— -The 

 first incision. — The skin to be pushed, not pulled. — Arrangement of 

 wings. — Modelling the body. — Spreading the tail. — Constant attention 

 required. — Strength and elasticity. — Value of corrosive sublimate. — 

 Experience and patience. 



Weee you to pay as muoh attention to birds as the sculp- 

 tor does to the human frame, you would immediately see, 

 on entering a museum, that the specimens are not well 

 done. 



This remark will not be thought severe "when you 

 reflect that that which once was a bird has probably 

 been stretched, stuffed, stiffened, and wired by the hand 

 of a common clown. Consider likewise how the plumage 

 must have been disordered by too much stretching or 

 drying, and perhaps sullied, or at least deranged, by the 

 pressure of a coarse and heavy hand — plumage which, ere 

 life had fled from within it, was accustomed to be touched 

 by nothing rougher than the dew of heaven, and the pure 

 and gentle breath of air. 



In dissecting, three things are necessary to ensure 

 success, viz., a penknife, a hand not coarse or clumsy, 

 and practice. The first will furnish you with the means ; 



