SEC. VI INSTRUMENTS, ETC., FOR PREPARING BIRDSKINS 39 



to cut much with, and I suppose I am like other people — while 

 scissors stay sharp enough. The flat, thin ivory or ebony handle of 

 the scalpel is about as useful as the blade. Finger-nails, which were 

 made before scalpels, are a mighty help. Forceps are almost indis- 

 pensable for seizing and holding parts too small or too remote to be 

 grasped by the fingers. The knitting-needle is wanted for a specific 

 purpose noted beyond. The shears or nippers are only needed for 

 what the ordinary scissors are too weak to do. 



MateFials. — (a) For stuffing. "What do you stuff 'em with?" 

 is usually the first question of idle curiosity about taxidermy, as if 

 that were the great point ; whereas the stufiing is so small a matter 

 that one might reply, ■' Anything, except brickbats ! " But if stuffing 

 birds were the final cause of cotton, that admirable substance could 

 not be more perfectly adapted than it is to the purpose. Ordinary 

 raw cotton-batting or wadding is what you want. When I can get 

 it I never think of using anything else for small birds. I would use 

 it for all birds were expense no object. Here tow comes in ; there 

 is a fine, clean, bleached article of tow prepared for surgical dressings ; 

 this is the best, but any will do. Some say chop your tow fine ; this 

 is harmless, but unn,ecessary. A crumpled newspaper, wrapped with 

 tow, is first-rate for a large bird. Failing cotton or tow, any soft, 

 light, dry, vegetable sulstance may be made to answer, — rags, paper, 

 crumbled leaves, fine dried grass, soft fibrous inner bark, etc. ; the 

 down of certain plants, as thistle and silkweed, makes an exquisite 

 filling for small birds. But I will qualify my remark about brick- 

 bats by saying : Never put hair, wool, feathers, or any other ANIMAL 

 substance in a hirdsMn ; far better leave it empty : for, as we shall see 

 in the sequel, bugs come fast enough, without being invited into a 

 snug nest. (b) For preserving. ARSENIC, — not the pure metal 

 properly so called, but arsenic of the shops, or arsenious acid, — is 

 the great preservative. Use dry powdered arsenic, plenty of it, and 

 nothing else. There is no substitute for arsenic worthy of the name, 

 and no preparation of arsenic so good as the simple substance. 

 Various kinds of " arsenical soap " were and may still be in vogue ; 

 it is a nasty, greasy substance ; and although efficacious enough, there 

 is a very serious hygienic objection to its use.^ Arsenic, I need not 

 say, is a violent irritant poison, and must therefore be duly guarded, 

 but may be used with perfect impunity. It is a very heavy substance, 

 not appreciably volatile at ordinary temperatures, and therefore not 



^ " Strange as it may appear to some, I would say avoid especially all the so-called 

 arsenical soaps ; they are at best hut filthy preparations ; besides, it is a fact to which 

 I can bear painful testimony that they are, especially when applied to a greasy skin, 

 poisonous in the extreme. I have been so badly poisoned, while working upon the 

 skins of some fat water birds that had been prepared with arsenical soap, as to be 

 made seriously ill, the poison having worked into the system through some small 

 wounds or scratches on my hand. Had pure arsenic been used in preparing the skins, 



