338 ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 



reforming them, all symmetry, order, and proportion are 

 lost for ever. 



You must lay it down as an absolute rule that the bird 

 is to be entirely skinned, otherwise you can never succeed 

 in forming a true and pleasing specimen. 



You will allow this to be just, after reflecting a moment 

 on the nature of the fleshy parts and tendons, which are 

 often left in : 1st, they require to be well seasoned with 

 aromatic spices ; 2dly, they must be put into an oven to 

 dry ; 3dly, the heat of the fire and the natural tendency all 

 cured flesh has to shrink and become hard renders the 

 specimen withered, distorted, and too small; 4thly, the 

 inside then becomes like a ham or any other dried meat. 

 Ere long the insects claim it as their own; the feathers 

 begin to drop off, and you have the hideous spectacle of 

 death in ragged plumage. 



Wire is of no manner of use, but, on the contrary, a 

 great nuisance ; for where it is introduced, a disagreeable 

 stiffness and derangement of symmetry follow. 



The head and neck can be placed in any attitude, the 

 body supported, the wings closed, extended or elevated, the 

 tail depressed, raised or expanded, the thighs set horizontal 

 or oblique, without any aid from wire. Cotton will effect 

 all this. 



A very small proportion of the skull bone, say, from the 

 forepart of the eyes to the bill, is to be left in; though 

 even this is not absolutely necessary. Part of the wing- 

 bones, the jaw-bones, and half of the thigh-bones, remain. 

 Everything else, flesh, fat, eyes, bones, brains, and tendons 

 are all to be taken away. 



While dissecting, it will be of use to keep in mind, — 

 That, in taking off the skin from the body, by means of 

 your fingers and a little knife, you must try to shove it, in 

 lieu of pulling it, lest you stretch it. 



