SEC. vii HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN 43 



the scalpel-point ; no cutting is required ; the skin may be peeled 

 off without trouble. Skin away till you meet an obstacle ; it is 

 the thigh. Lay down the instruments ; with your left hand take 

 hold of the leg outside at the shank ; put your right forefinger 

 under the raised flap of skin, and feel a bump ; it is the knee; push 

 up the leg till this bump comes into view ; hold it so. Take the 

 scissors in your right hand ; tuck one blade under the concavity of 

 the knee, and sever the joint at a stroke ; then the thigh is left 

 with the rest of the body, while the rest of the leg is dissevered and 

 hangs only by skin. Push the leg farther up till it has slipped 

 out of its sheath of skin, like a finger out of a glove, down to the 

 heel-joint. You have now to clear off the flesh and leave the bone 

 there ; you may scrape till this is done, but there is a better way. 

 Stick the closed points of the scissors in among the muscles just 

 below the head of the bone, then separate the blades just wide 

 enough to grasp the bone ; snip off its head ; draw the head to one 

 side J all the muscles follow, being there attached ; strip them 

 downward from the bone ; the bone is left naked, with the muscle 

 hanging by a bundle of tendons ("leaders") at its foot; sever these 

 tendons collectively at a stroke. This whole performance will 

 occupy about three seconds, after practice ; and you may soon 

 discover you can nick off the head of the bone of a small bird with 

 the thumb-nail. Draw the leg-bone back into its sheath, and leave 

 it. Eepeat the foregoing steps on the other side of the bird. If 

 you are bothered by the skin-flaps settling against the belly-walls, 

 insert a fluff of cotton. Keep the feathers out of the wound ; cotton 

 and the moustache movement will do it. Next you must sever the 

 tail from the body, leaving a small " pope's-nose " for the feathers 

 to stay stuck into. Put the bird in the hollow of your lightly 

 closed left han(i, tail upward, belly toward you ; or, if too large for 

 this, stand it on its breast on the table in similar position. Throw 

 your left forefinger across the front (under side) of the tail, pressing 

 a little backward ; take the scissors, cut the end of the lower bowel 

 free first, then peck away at bone and muscle with cautious snips, 

 till the tail-stump is dissevered from the rump, and the tail hangs 

 only by skin. You will soon learn to do it all at one stroke ; but 

 you cannot be too careful at first ; you are cutting right down on 

 to the skin over the top of the pope's-nose, and if you divide this, 

 the bird will part company with its tail altogether. Now you have 

 the rump-stump protruding naked; the legs dangling on either 

 side ; the tail hanging loose down over the bird's back. Lay down 

 scissors, take up forceps ^ in your left hand ; with them seize and 



^ Or at this stage you may instead stick a hook into a firm part of the rump, 

 and hang up the bird ahout the level of your breast ; you thus have both hands 

 free to work with. This is advisable with all birds too large to be readily taken in 



