THE SETTING-UP OF BIRDS WITH HARD BODIES 189 



former being unsuitable in allowing no freedom of action, and 

 the latter being always insecure and ill-balanced, one of the 

 assistants in the Leicester Museum put together the much more 

 stable and easily-made article shown on Plate XL, an improve- 

 ment upon which is one with the top piece sloping downward, 

 so that the bird may be arranged with one foot higher than the 

 other to give variety. The distance between the feet, and their 

 relative positions being determined and measured, correspond- 

 ing holes are bored in this top piece, through which the ends of 

 the leg-wires are inserted and bent under to hold firmly. 



The bird is now upon the stand, roughly shaped, and 

 probably more out of shape from the fixing. It must next be 

 arranged in the position it is to finally assume, the legs placed 

 properly, and the neck, as that of a perching bird, bent down- 

 wards to fall within the cavity, and then bent back upon itself 

 (see Plate XL). This is a difficult matter to describe, but — done 

 with both hands — comes with practice. All imperfections in 

 modelling are now to be made good by the insertion of small 

 pieces of tow through the opening under the wing, but, before 

 deciding that these are really imperfections, bring the feathers 

 into position, and bear in mind what is systematically ignored, 

 even by fairly-skilled professionals — that the arrangement of 

 the feathers by pricking the skin with a fine needle from tail to 

 head, and from side to side, is, in many instances, of much more 

 value, and gives better results, than the sleeking of feathers 

 from head to tail. Be quite sure that the abdomen falls neatly 

 into shape between the legs and by the tail, and, when all is 

 fairly right, take one of the two five-inch wing-wires, insert the 

 point through the first two or three primaries at about two and 

 a half inches (in the pigeon) below the flexure of the wing, or, 

 taking the skeleton as an example, below the lowest {i.e. the 

 second) digit, pass it underneath, following the natural arch of 

 the wing, and push the point into the body high up ; the effect 



