DRYING AND PACKING SKINS. 69 
tioned to be condemned), I will tell you the easiest and best 
way, by which the most elegant and tasteful results are almost 
necessarily secured. The skins are simply laid away in cotton, 
just as they come from your hands. Take a considerable wad 
of cotton, make a “bed” of it, lay the specimen in, and tuck 
it up nicely around the edges. In effect, I generally take a 
thin sheet of cotton wadding, the sizing of which confers some 
textile consistency, and wrap the bird completely but lightly in 
it. By loosening or tightening a trifle here or there, laying 
down a‘‘ pillow” or other special slight pressure, the most deli- 
cate contour-lines may be preserved with perfect fidelity. Un- 
necessary pother is sometimes made about drying skins; the 
fact being that under ordinary circumstances they could not be 
kept from drying perfectly ; and they dry in exactly the shape 
they are set, if not accidentally pressed upon. At sea, how- 
ever, or during unusually protracted wet weather, they of 
course dry slowly, and may require some attention to prevent 
mildew, and even souring, especially in the cases of very large, 
thick-skinned or greasy specimens. ‘Thorough poisoning, and 
drying by a fire, or placing in the sun, will always answer. 
Very close packing retards drying. When travelling or oper- 
ating under other circumstances requiring economy of space, 
you must not expect to turn out your collection in elegant 
order. Perfection of contour-lines can only be secured by put- 
ting each specimen away by itself; undue pressure is always 
liable to produce unhappily ouwtré configuration of a skin. 
Trays in a packing box are of great service in limiting possi- 
bilities of pressure; they should be shallow; for one four 
inches deep will take a well stuffed hen hawk, for example, or 
accommodate 3—6 sparrows a-top of each other. It is well to 
sort out your specimens somewhat according to size, to keep 
heavy ones off little ones; though the chinks around the 
former may usually be economized with advantage by packing 
In the less valuable or the less’ neatly prepared of the latter. 
When limited to a travelling chest, I generally pass in the 
skins as fast as made, packing them ‘‘solid” in one sense, yet 
hunting up a nice resting place for each. If each rests in its 
