HANDLING BLEEDING BIRDS. 30 
§22. HANDLING BLEEDING BIRDS. Bleeding depends alto- 
gether upon the part or organ wounded; but other things 
being equal, violence of the hemorrhage is usually in direct 
proportion to the size of the shot-hole; when mustard-seed is 
used it is ordinarily very trifling, if it occur at all. Blood 
flows oftener from the orifice of exit of a shot, than from the 
wound of entrance, for the latter is usually plugged with a 
little wad of feathers driven in. Bleeding from the mouth or 
nostrils is the rule when the lungs are wounded. When it 
occurs, hold up the bird by the feet, and let it drip; a general 
squeeze of the body in that position will facilitate the drainage. 
In general, hold a bird so that a bleeding place is most depend- 
ent ; then, pressure about the part will help the flow. <A ‘‘gob” 
of blood, which is simply a forming clot, on the plumage may 
often be dextrously flipped almost clean away with a snap of 
the finger. It is first-rate practice to take cotton and forceps 
into the field to plug up shot-holes, and stop the mouth, nos- 
trils and vent on the spot. I follow the custom of the books 
- in recommending this, but I will confess I have rarely done 
it myself, and I suspect that only a few of our most leisurely 
and elegant collectors do so habitually. Shot-holes may be 
found by gently raising the feathers, or blowing them aside; 
you can of course get only a tiny plug into the wound itself, but 
it should be one end of a sizable pledget, the rest lying fluffy 
among the feathers. In stopping the mouth or vent, ram the 
fluff, of cotton, entirely inside. You cannot conveniently stop 
up the nostrils of small birds separately; but take a light 
cylinder of cotton, lay it transversely across the base of the up- 
per mandible, closely covering the nostrils, and confine it there 
by tucking each end tightly into the corner of the mouth. In 
default of such nice fixing as this, a pinch of dry loam pressed 
on a bleeding spot will plaster itself there and stop further mis- 
chief. Never try to wipe off fresh blood that has already wetted 
the plumage ; you will only make matters worse. Let it dry on, 
and then—but the treatment of bloodstains, and other soilings , 
of plumage, is given beyond. 
