HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 31 
leave in one of the two fore-arm bones, to preserve sufficiently the shape of the limb, but to 
remove the other, with the upper-arm bone and all the flesh. It is done in a moment: stick the 
point of the scissors between the heads of the two fore-arm bones, and cut the hinder one (ulna) 
away from the elbow; then the other fore-arm bone (radius), bearing on its near end the 
elbow and the whole upper arm, is to be stripped away from the ulna, taking with it the flesh 
of the fore-arm, and to be cut off at its far end close to the wrist-joint, one stroke severing the 
bone and all the tendons that pass over the wrist to the hand; then the ulna, bare of flesh, 
is alone left in, attached at the wrist. Draw gently on the wing from the outside till it slips 
into the natural position whence you everted it. Do the same for the other wing. This 
finishes the skinning process. The skin is now to be turned right side out. Begin any way 
you please, till you see the point of the bill reappearing among the feathers; seize it with 
fingers or forceps, as convenient, and use it for geutle traction. But by no means pull it out 
by holding on to the rear end of the skin —that would infallibly stretch the skin. Holding 
the bill, make a cylinder of your left hand and coax the skin backward with a sort of milking 
motion. It will come easily enough, until the final stage of getting the head back into its 
skull-cap; this may require some little dexterity ; but you cannot fail to get the head in, if 
you remember what you did to get it out. When this is fairly accomplished, you for the first 
time have the pleasure of seeing something that looks like a birdskin. Your next? care is to 
apply arsenic. Lay the skin on its back, the opening toward you and wide spread, so the 
interior is in view. Run the scalpel-handle into the neck to dilate that cylinder until you can 
see the skull; find your way to the orifices of the legs and wings; expose the pope’s-nose ; 
thus you have not only the general skin surface, but all the points where some traces of flesh 
were left, fairly in view. Shovel in arsenic; dump some down the neck, making sure it reaches 
and plentifully besprinkles the whole skull; drop a little in each wing hole and leg hole; 
leave a small pile at the root of the tail; strew some more over the skin at large. The simple 
rule is, put in as much arsenic as will stick anywhere., Then close the opening, and shake up 
the skin ; move the head about by the bill; rustle the wings and move the legs; this distrib- 
utes the poison thoroughly. If you have got in more than is necessary, as you may judge by 
seeing it piled up dry, anywhere, hold the skin with the opening downward over the poison- 
drawer, and give it a flip and let the superfluous powder fall out. Now for the ‘‘make up,” 
upon which the beauty of the preparation depends. First get the empty skin into good shape. 
Let it lie on its back; draw it straight out to its natural length. See that the skin of the 
head fits snugly; that the eyes, ears, and jaws are in place. Expand the wings to make sure 
that the bone is in place, and fold them so that the quills override each other naturally ; set the 
tail-feathers shinglewise also; draw down the legs and leave them straddling wide apart. 
Give the plumage a preliminary dressing; if the skin is free from kinks and creases, the feath- 
ers come naturally into place; particular ones that may be awry should be set right, as may 
be generally done by stroking, or by lifting them free repeatedly, and letting them fall; if any 
(through carelessness) remain turned into the opening, they should be carefully picked out. 
Remove all traces of gypsum or arsenic with the feather duster. The stuffing is to be put in 
through the opening in the belly; the art is to get in just enough, in the right places. It 
would never do to push in pellets of cotton, as you would stuff a pillow-case, till the skin is 
filled up; no subsequent skill in setting could remove the distortion that would result. It 
takes just fowr” pieces of stuffing — one for each eye, one for the neck, and one for the body; 
1 Some direct the poisoning to be done while the skin is still wrong side out; and it may be very thoroughly 
effected at that stage. I wait, because the arsenic generally strews over the table in the operation of reversing 
the skin, if you use as much as I think advisable; and it is better to have a cavity to put it into than a surface to 
strew it on. 
2 For any ordinary bird up to the size of a crow. It is often directed that the leg-bones and wing-bones be 
wrapped with cotton or tow. I should not think of putting anything around the wing-bones of any bird up to the 
size of an eagle, swan, or pelican. Examination of a skinned wing will show how extremely compact it is, except 
