THE SKINNING OF BIRDS 169 



plaster should be well beaten out of their feathers, and, if they 

 should still look dull and dead, a very little benzoline lightly 

 applied with wadding or a brush will restore the gloss, or, if 

 not, a light application of methyl-alcohol will be sure to do 

 so. In point of fact, all birds, before casing up, will be bene- 

 fited by a brush-over either with benzoline or spirit, and, in 

 instances where moths are suspected, the specimens may be 

 absolutely plunged into turpentine followed by benzoline and 

 plaster, or, if not in a very bad state, in benzoline alone followed 

 by plaster. 



It should be noted that the common benzoline (" benzol," 

 " benzine " C^Hg), at, perhaps, a shilling a gallon, is quite as 

 efFxacious as the very much more expensive " benzine collas." 



The Skinning of a Bird 



This, the alpha of the bird-taxidermist's art, bears the same 

 relation to the setting-up as forming letters correctly does to 

 finished writing, and, until a skin can be accurately shaped and 

 neatly arranged, the beginner must not be allowed to "set up." 



The first process, whether for making a skin or for setting 

 up, is, of course, the removal of the body, leaving the skin 

 and feathers intact ; and in all books, dating from the earliest 

 times, the advice invariably given is to lay the bird upon its 

 back, and to make the incision, through which the body is to 

 be afterwards removed, in the centre of the breast. 



Nothing is more wrong in theory and in practice ; it has 

 not one single advantage to recommend it, whilst it bristles with 

 numberless disadvantages. These are, that in the beginning 

 the learner often cuts too low, or through the thin membrane 

 which covers the intestines, and in either case a nasty mess is the 

 result, and the bird is half spoiled ; again, the skin is usually 

 torn at the edges and flattened out. In making up, great 

 difficulty is experienced in getting the shape of the breast 



