THE SKINNING OF BIRDS 177 



over the neck towards the beak until, the back of the head 

 being reached, the skin is found to stick on each side of the 

 skull, namely, at the ears, and, if the finger and thumb be 

 dipped in plaster or sand, it is possible to " pinch " these away, 

 or to pull them right out from their attachments ; otherwise, 

 the knife must be used, but in all cases a pull is preferable. 

 The eyeballs now appear, and the skin is attached as a thin 

 membrane to the centre of each. This must be very carefully 

 severed by cutting downwards, or, rather, towards the back of 

 the head, and, when quite free, the brain-scoop (No. 7) must be 

 put into the orbit on the side nearest the beak, pushed well 

 under the eyeball, and, by the aid of the thumb pressing gently 

 against it, this must be pulled out, care being taken not to 

 burst it In any case, press a plug of wool into the orbit, 

 directly the eyeball is removed, to clean it out. The skin is 

 still held on the top of the skull, and must be relieved with the 

 knife or the brain-scoop until well up to the base of the beak. 

 A little more skinning away is required under the orbits, and 

 at the sides of the face, and also in front of the orbits, so that 

 the skin will only hang just by the base of the beak, care 

 being taken not to cut so far as the gape. 



If the tongue is not required to be kept, slip the • knife 

 between that and the skull, pull forward, and the tongue and 

 windpipe will come away. Disarticulate the neck where it joins 

 the head, but do not cut away the back of the skull as is 

 usually done, as the brains may be extracted easily from the 

 back of the orbits. Figure 3 on Plate IX. shows the skin at 

 this juncture turned inside out. 



Take now the preservative (Formula 57), and well paint 

 every part of the skin, the skull, the bones of the wings, legs, 

 and tail, taking care not to paint the feathers during this 

 operation. Return the skin to its normal position — i.e. with 

 the feathers outside — and then will come — 



