MATERIALS FOR PREPARING BIRDSKINS. 27 
but at a pinch you can make temporary ‘shift with the following, among other articles: —table 
salt, or saltpetre, or charcoal strewn plentifully ; strong solution of corrosive sublimate, brushed 
over the skin inside ; creosote; impure carbolic acid; these last two are quite efficacious, but 
they smell horribly for an indefinite period. A bird threatening to decompose before you can 
get at it to skin, may be saved for a while by squirting weak carbolic acid or crevsote down the 
throat and up the fundament; or by disembowelling, and filling the cavity with powdered 
charcoal. (¢.) For cleansing. Gypsum is an almost indispensable. material for cleansing 
soiled plumage. ‘‘ Gypsum” is properly native hydrated sulphate of lime ; the article referred 
to is ‘‘ plaster of Paris” or gypsum heated up to 260° F. (by which the water of crystalliza- 
tion is driven off) and then finely pulverized. When mixed with water it soon solidifies, the 
original hydrate being again formed. The mode of using it is indicated beyond. It is most 
conveniently kept in a shallow tray, say a foot square, and an inch or two deep, which had 
better, furthermore, slide under the table as a drawer; or form a compartment of a larger 
drawer. Keep gypsum and arsenic in different-looking receptacles, not so much to keep from 
poisoning yourself,‘as to keep from not poisoning a birdskin. They look much alike, and 
skinning becomes such a mechanical process that you may get hold of the wrong article when 
your thoughts are wandering in the woods. Gypsum, like arsenic, has no worthy rival in its 
own field ; some substitutes, in the order of their applicability, are: — corn-meal, probably the 
best thing after gypsum; calcined magnesia (very good, but too light— it floats in the air, 
and makes you qough); bicarbonate of magnesia; powdered chalk (‘‘ prepared chalk,” creta 
preparata of the drug shops, is the best kind) ; fine wood-ashes; clean dry loam. No article, 
however powdery when dry, that contains a glutinous principle, as for instance gum-arabic or 
flour, is admissible. (d.) For wrapping, you want a thin, pliable, strong paper ; water-closet 
paper is the very best; newspaper is pretty good. For making the cones or cylinders in 
which birdskins may be set to dry, a stiffer article is required; writing paper answers perfectly. 
Naturalists habitually carry « Pocket Lens, much as other people do a watch. You 
will find a magnifying glass very convenient in your search for the sexual organs of small 
birds when obscure, as they frequently are, out of the breeding season; in picking lice from 
plumage, to send to your entomological friend, who will very likely pronounce them to be of a 
‘new species ; ” and for other purposes. 
Fixtures. When travelling, your fixtures must ordinarily be limited to a cullecting- 
chest ; you will have to skin birds on the top of this, on the tail-board of a wagon, or on your 
lap, as the ease may be. The chest should be very substantial — iron-bound is best; strong 
as to hinges and lock—and have handles. A good size is 30x18 x18 inches. Let it be 
fitted with a set of trays; the bottom one say four inches deep; the rest shallower’; the top 
one very shallow, and divided into compartments for your tools and materials, unless you fix 
these on the under side of the lid. Start out with all the trays full of cotton or tow. At 
home, have a room to yourself, if possible ; taxidermy makes a mess to which your wife may 
object, and arsenic must not come in the way of children. At any rate have your own table. 
I prefer plain deal that may be scrubbed: when required; great cleanliness is indispensable, 
especially when doing much work in hot weather, for the place soon smells sour if neglected. 
I use no special receptacle for offal, for this only makes another article to be cleaned; lay 
down a piece of paper for the refuse, and throw the whole away. A perfectly smooth surface 
is desirable. I generally have a large pane of window-glass on the table before me. It will 
really be found advantageous to have a scale of inches scratched on the edge of the table; only 
a small part of it need be fractionally subdivided; this replaces the foot-rule and tape-line, 
just as the tacks of a dry-goods counter answer for the yardstick. You will find it worth while 
to rig some sort of a derrick arrangement, which you can readily devise, on one end of the 
