24: MAKING BIRDSKINS. 



carry some loaded with two and a half drachms of powder and three 

 fourths of an ounce of N"o. 10 shot, and a few others loaded with the 

 same charge of powder and an ounce of No. 6 shot. 



On killing a bird, pick it up by the bill or feet, and at once sprinkle 

 meal or dry earth on any blood which may be visible. When this is 

 saturated, scrape it off with a knife-blade and repeat the operation 

 until all the blood is absorbed. Sprinkle some meal at the base of the 

 feathers about the shot-holes from which the blood appears, or, if 

 necessary, plug these holes with bits of cotton. Place a large plug 

 of cotton in the mouth and force it well down the throat to prevent 

 bleeding at the mouth from an internal wound. In some cases it is 

 necessary to also plug the nostrils. Now make a cornucopia from a 

 leaf of the pamphlet, drop the bird in it head foremost, taking care 

 that the bill is not turned forward on to the throat, and, if the bird 

 is not too large, fold in the edges of the cornucopia and place the 

 specimen in your basket. In the case of very large specimens — 

 Hawks, Owls, etc. — it is advisable to skin out the body in the field, 

 when they can be packed in much smaller space. 



Making Birdskins. — If you have fully decided to make a collection 

 of birds, the very best and cheapest way to begin it is to get some 

 one to give you two or three lessons in the art of preparing birdskins. 

 With proper instruction it is not difficult to learn to skin birds. I 

 have known beginners who had closely watched experts at work, make 

 fair skins at their first attempt — better skins, indeed, than the person 

 who learns only from written directions may ever make. I am speak- 

 ing from experience. Only too clearly do I remember my own first 

 attempts at skinning birds and their hopelessly wretched results. In 

 despair I at last sought the assistance of a distant ornithological friend. 

 In one lesson he made the process so clear to me that I was at once 

 enabled to make skins twice as quickly and twice as well. However, 

 we unfortunately are not all blessed with ornithological friends to 

 whom we can turn for advice, and I therefore append the following 

 directions for making birdskins : 



First procure a scalpel with a well-rounded end, a pair of sharp- 

 pointed scissors with rather long handles, a pair of blunt-ended, rather 

 strong scissors, and a pair of flat-ended forceps. These may be pur- 

 chased of any dealer in naturalists' supplies or at a surgical instrument 

 maker's. Procure also a quart or so of fine corn-meal to use as an ab- 

 sorbent, a pound or two of powdered arsenic and alum mixed in equal 

 parts, and an abundance of the best cotton batting money will buy. 

 Now we are ready to begin with a bird, say, the size of a Robin : 1. 

 Plug the bird's throat and nostrils tightly with fresh cotton. If the 

 eyeball is ruptured, pull it out with the forceps and fill the cavity 



