THE SKINNING OF BIRDS 175 



the feathers preserved from contact with the inside of the skin, 

 and the wings and head resting on the operating-table, the 

 lowermost points of the pelvis («>. the pubes) — points of two 

 small bones which stick out and rather impede the way — are 

 passed. At this juncture it will, perhaps, be as well to let the 

 body lie on its back upon the table, merely supporting the tail 

 part above and below with the fingers of the left hand while 

 gentle scraping goes on, and turning it from front to back if 

 necessary, until, in the front, the vent is reached, and, at the 

 back, the oil-gland of the tail; the knife must be slipped under- 

 neath and around each until the final severance is made which dis- 

 connects the skin from the body. The sex should then be deter- 

 mined — an important matter in all cases, too often neglected by 

 the ordinary taxidermist. Cut through the ribs, therefore, of one 

 side with a pair of scissors and pushing aside the intestines, etc., 

 look in the hollow of the back, and if the bird is a male there 

 will be observed two whitish-yellow (sometimes blackish and 

 small) oval bodies, one rather lower than the other, attached to 

 the upper lobes of the kidneys and close against the vertebrae. But 

 if it is a female, one irregularly-shaped mass, showing variously- 

 sized (often small) egg-like bodies, will be found in the same 

 position and partly covering the left kidney only (the right ovary 

 only appearing in the embryo). Except in the breeding season, 

 these organs both in male and female birds are small and often 

 difficult to determine, and a further complication may arise 

 from the adrenals being mistaken for the male organs. The 

 adrenals, however, are longer, yellower, and for two-thirds of 

 the year much smaller than the testes ; moreover, they are 

 situated a little higher, viz. at the upper ends of the kidneys. 



The Trimming of the Skin 

 The body having been removed from the skin, the trim- 

 ming of all flesh from the tail, legs, wings and head com- 



