176 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



mences, and the tail, being already in the hand at this point, will 

 be the first to be trimmed. With, therefore, the scissors (No. 9) 

 and the knife, cut and trim away all flesh and fat, not only 

 from around the tail itself, but from the skin which surrounds 

 it, should any have been left on. The legs next require the 

 skin freed from them down to the joint (the junction of 

 the tibio-tarsus with the tarso-meta-tarsus), taking care, when 

 cutting the ligaments away, not to cut so low as to pierce 

 through to the outside. The ligaments being cut all around 

 with the point of a knife, the whole of the flesh may be stripped 

 from the bone with the finger and thumb. The wings are now 

 to be trimmed, and are, perhaps, the most tiresome. All the 

 flesh in sight must be trimmed away, as also the pieces of 

 broken bone, but the part still attached to the wing must be 

 left for the present, as it is something to lay hold of It will 

 be observed that there are two skins, as it were, to the wing, 

 i.e. that above and that below the wing, and the one on the 

 under side must be loosened until the flesh surrounding those 

 bones known as the ulna and radius (see skeleton, Plate VIII.) 

 becomes visible. This requires a considerable amount of 

 delicate management to expose a little pocket of skin in which 

 the flesh lies. In some cases, however, it is possible to expose 

 these bones by laying hold of the humerus. Now disjoint the 

 small piece of broken bone, or all that remains of the humerus, 

 and, by cutting with scissors and scraping with a knife, the 

 flesh remaining on the ulna and radius can be removed. It is 

 important that this should be done, as there is much more 

 flesh in that part than would appear ; it must be quite 

 understood, however, that the skin is not to be freed from 

 those bones on the top of the wing. Both wings having been 

 freed from flesh, nothing remains but the head and neck ; 

 this latter being seized in whichever hand is more convenient, 

 the fingers of the other hand are employed in pressing the skin 



