HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 85 
“large” birds, say anything from a hen-hawk upward, various special manipulations I have 
directed may be foregone, while however you observe their general drift and intent. You may 
open the bird as directed, or, turning it tail to you, cut with a knife! Forceps are rarely 
required; there is not much that is too small to be taken in hand. As soon as the tail is 
divided, hang up the bird by the rump, so you will have both hands free. Let it swing clear 
of the wall or table, at any height most convenient. The steel hooks of a dissecting case are 
not always large enough; use a stout fish-hook with the barb filed off. Work with your nails, 
assisted by the scalpel if necessary. I know of no bird, and I think there is none, in this 
country at least, the skin of which is so intimately adherent by fibrous or muscular tissue as 
to require actual dissecting throughout; a pelican comes, perhaps, as near this as any; but in 
many cases the knife may be constantly employed with advantage. Use it with long clean 
sweeping strokes, hugging the skin rather than the body. The knee and shoulder commonly 
require disarticulation, unless you use bone-nippers or strong shears; the four cuts of the skull 
may presuppose a very able-bodied instrument, even a chisel. The wings will give you the 
most trouble, and they require a special process; for you cannot readily break up the adhesions 
of the secondary quills to the ulna, nor is it desirable that very large feathers should be 
deprived of this natural support. Hammer or nip off the great head of the upper arm-bone, 
just below the insertion of the breast muscles; clean the rest of that bone and leave it in. Tie 
a string around it (what sailors call ‘‘two half hitches” gives a secure hold on the bony 
cylinder), and tie it to the other humerus, inside the skin, so that the two bones shall be rather 
less than their natural distance apart. After the skin is brought right side out, attack the 
wings thus: Spread the wing under side uppermost, and secure it on the table by driving 
‘a tack or brad through the wrist-joint; this fixes the far end, while the weight of the skin 
steadies the other. Raise a whole layer of the under wing-coverts, and make a cut in the skin 
thus exposed, from elbow to wrist, in the middle line between the two forearm bones. Raise 
the flaps of skin and all the muscle is laid bare; it is to be removed. This is best done by 
lifting each muscle from its bed separately, slipping the handle of the scalpel onder the 
individual »ellies; there is little if any bony attachment except at each end, and this is readily 
severed. Strew in arsenic; a little cotton may be used to fill the bed of muscle removed from 
a very large bird; bring the flaps of skin together, and smooth down the coverts; you need 
not be particular to sew up the cut, for the coverts will’hide the opening; in fact, the operation 
does not show at all after the make-up. Stuffing of large birds is not commonly done with 
only the four pieces already directed. The eyeballs, and usually the neck-cylinder, go in as 
before; the body may be filled any way you please, provided you do not put in too much 
stuffing nor get any between the shoulders. All large birds had better have the leg-bones 
wrapped to nearly natural size. Observe that the leg-muscles do not form a cylinder, but a 
cone; let the wrapping taper naturally from top to bottom. Attention to this point is neces- 
sary for all large or medium-sized birds with naturally prominent legs. The large finely 
feathered legs of a hawk, for example, ought to be well displayed ; with these birds, and also 
with rails, ete., moreover, imitate the bulge of the thigh with a special wad laid inside the 
skin. Large birds commonly require also a special wad introduced by the mouth, to make 
the swell of the throat; this wad should be rather fluffy than firm. As a rule, do not fill out 
1 Certain among larger birds are often opened elsewhere than along the belly, with what advantage I cannot 
say from my own experience. Various water birds, such as loons, grebes, auks, gulls, and ducks (in fact any 
swimming bird with dense under plumage) may be opened along the side by a cut under the wings from the 
shoulder over the hip to the rump; the cut is completely hidden by the make-up, and the plumage is never ruffled. 
But I see no necessity for this; for, as a rule, the belly opening can, if desired, be completely effaced with due care, 
though a very greasy bird with white under plumage generally stains where opened, in spite of every precaution. 
Such birds as loons, grebes, cormorants, and penguins are often opened by a cut across the fundament from one 
leg to the other; their conformation in fact suggests and favors this operation. I have often seen water birds slit 
down the back; but I consider it very poor practice. 
