

62 HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 
again attached by a membrane, around the border of the eye- 
socket. Holding the scalpel as before, run its edge around an 
arc (a semicircle is enough to let you into the orbit) of the 
circumference, dissevering the membrane from the bone. Re- 
verse the scalpel, and scoop out the eyeball with the end of | 
the handle; you bring out the eye betwixt the ball of your 
thumb and the handle of the instrument, tearing apart the 
optic nerve and conjunctival tissue, but taking care not to open 
the eyeball* nor lacerate the eyelids. Do the same with the 
other eye. The head isthen skinned far enough; there is no 
use of getting quite to the base of the bill. You have now to 
get rid of the brain and flesh of the nape and jaws,y and leave 
most of the skull in; the cranial dome makes the only perfect 
*¢ stuffing” for the skin of the head. This is all done at once 
by only four particular cuts. Hold the head between your left 
thumb and fingers, the bill pointing towards you, the bird’s 
palate facing you; you observe a space bounded behind by the 
base of the skull where the neck joins, in front by the floor of 
the mouth, on either side by the prongs of the under jaw — 
these last especially prominent. Take the scissors; stick one 
blade just inside one branch of the lower jaw, thence into the 
eye-socket which lies below (the head being upside down) 
thence into the brain-box; make a cut parallel with the jaw, 
just inside of it, bringing the upper scissor blade perpendicu- 
larly downward crashing through the skull just inside of the 
angle of the jaw. Duplicate this cut on the other side. Con- 
nect the anterior ends of these cuts by a transverse one across 
the floor and roof of the mouth. Connect the posterior ends 
of the side cuts by one across the back of the skull near its 
base —just where the nape-muscle ceases to override the cra- 
* An eyeball is much larger than it looks from the outside; if you stick the 
instrument straight into the socket, you may punch a hole in the ball t out 
the water; a very disagreeable complication. Insinuate the knife-handle close to 
the rim of the socket, and hug the wall of the cavity throughout. 
t+ You may of course at this stage cut off the neck at the nape, punch a hole in 
the base of the skull, dig out the brains, and scrape away at the jaw-muscles till 
you are satisfied or tired; an unnecessary job, during which the skin may haye 
become dry and shrivelled and hard to turn right side out. The operation de- 
scribed in the text may require ten seconds, perhaps. 













