
66 HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 
as you did the eyeball, introduce it in the same way, and ram 
it firmly into the base of the skull; disengage the needle by 
twisting it the other way, and withdraw it, taking care not to 
dislodge the cotton neck. If now you peep into the skin you 
will see the end of this artificial neck; push it up against the 
skin of the breast—it must not lie down on the back between 
the shoulders.* The body-wad comes next; you want to imi- 
tate the size and shape of the bird’s trunk. Take a mass of 
cotton you think will be enough, and take about half of this ; 
that will be plenty (cotton is very elastic). It should make a 
tolerably firm ball, rather egg-shaped, swelling at the breast, 
smaller behind. If you simply squeeze up the cotton, it will 
not stay compressed ; it requires a motion something like that 
which bakers employ to knead dough into the shape of a loaf. 
Keep tucking over the borders of the cotton till the desired 
shape and firmness are attained. Insert the ball between the 
blades of the forceps in such way that the instruments con- 
fine the folded-over edges, and with a wriggling motion insin- 
uate it aright into the body. Before relaxing the forceps, put 
your thumb and forefinger in the bird’s armpits, and pinch the 
shoulders together till they almost touch; this is to make sure 
that there is no stuffing between the shoulders—the whole 
mass lying. breastwards. Loosen the forceps and withdraw 
them. If the ball is rightly made and tucked in, the elasticity 
of the cotton will chiefly expend itself in pufting out the breast, 
which is just what is wanted. Be careful not to push the body 
too far in; if it impacts against the skin of the neck, this will 
infallibly stretch, driving the shoulders apart, and no art will 
remedy the unsightly gape resulting. You see I dwell on this 

* Although a bird’s neck is really, of course, in direct continuation of the back- 
bone, yet the natural sigmoid curve of the neck is such that it virtually takes de- 
parture rather from the breast, its lower curve being received between the prongs 
of the merrythought. This is what we must imitate instead of the true anatomy. 
If you let the end of the neck lie between the shoulders, it will infallibly press 
them apart, so that the interscapular plumage cannot shingle over the scapular as 
it should, and a gaping place, showing down or even naked skin, will result. 
Likewise if the neck be made foo large (the chances are that way, at first), the 
same result follows. These seemingly trifling points are very important indeed; 
I never made a decent birdskin till I learned to get the neck small enough, and to 
shove the end of it against the breast. : 

