
70 HOW TO MAKE A BIRDSKIN. 
own cotton coffin, it is astonishing how close they may be laid 
without harm; and how many will go in a given space —a tray 
30X18X4 inches will easily hold three hundred and fifty birds 
six inches long. As a tray fills up, the drier ones first put in 
may be submitted to more pressure. A skin originally dried 
in good shape may subsequently be pressed perfectly flat with- 
out material injury ; the only thing to avoid being contortion. 
The whole knack of packing birds corresponds to that of filling 
a trunk solidly full of clothes—as may easily be done without 
damage to an immaculate shirt-front. Finally, I would say, 
never put away a bird unlabelled, not even for an hour; you 
may forget it, or die. Never tie a label to a bird’s bill, wing 
or tail; tie it securely to both legs where they cross, and it will 
be just half as liable to become detached as if tied to one leg 
only. Never paste a label, or even a number, on a bird’s plu- 
mage. Never put in glass eyes before mounting. Never paint 
or varnish a bird’s billor feet. Never replace missing plumage 
of one bird with the feathers of another—no, not even if the 
birds came out of the same nest. 
B. Special Processes; Complications and Accidents. 
§37. Tue foregoing method of procedure is a routine prac- 
tice applicable to three-fourths if not nine-tenths of the ‘‘ gen- 
eral run” of birds. But there are several cases requiring a 
modification of this programme; while several circumstances 
may tend to embarrass your operations. The principal special 
conditions may therefore be separately treated to your advan- 
tage. 
§38. Size. Other things being equal, a large bird is more 
difficult to prepare than a small one. In one case, you only 
need a certain delicacy of touch, easily acquired and soon be- 
coming mechanical; in the other, demand on your strength 
may be made, till your muscles ache. It takes longer, too ;* 
* The reader may be curious to know something of the statistics on this score 
—how long it ought to take him to prepare an ordinary skin. He can scarcely 
imagine, from his first tedious operations, how expert he may become, not only in 
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