April i, 1 89 1. 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



3i 



model of the objects which he had to stuff, and 

 he acquired great ability in modelling animals and 

 birds. I possess several works made by him, which I 

 consider excessively good. Many of the specimens of 

 mammals and birds exhibited by the Republic of 

 Guatemala, and by myself at the International Paris 

 Exhibition of 1889, were prepared in his workshop. 

 The French Government awarded him a silver medal, 

 and the Republic of Guatemala awarded him a gold 

 medal, and two silver medals for his assistants. He 

 was ailing for some time, but his family and friends 

 never thought the end was so near. He leaves a 

 widow and two children, to whom we address all our 

 sympathies. 



An Easy Way of Making One Hundred 



Pounds Sterling- a Year. 



BIRDS AND MAMMALS. 



By Mr. Walter Burton. 



If a powerful billed bird, such as a cockatoo, is 

 wounded lay the barrel of the gun across the neck, 

 and press the bird to the ground with the hand until 

 dead, this also in the case of herons, which are 

 dangerous if only winged ; eagles if wounded require 

 careful handling, lay the barrel across the neck with 

 one hand, holding the feet with the other, and press 

 them with the knee to the ground, this will kill the 

 bird without damaging the plumage, and beware of the 

 claws of hawks and owls, they are exceedingly sharp 

 and poisonous. 



I now come to the process of skinning and 

 " making up " the birds into skins, premising my 

 description with the remark that if it is possible to 

 get a lesson from a professional taxidermist before 

 starting it will be found a great help, but to those so 

 situated that they cannot profit by this instruction I 

 hope I can make myself understood in the manner in 

 which I explain the process, it is exactly the way in 

 which I work myself, and in which I have had a life- 

 long, experience, some thousands of birds having been 

 through my hands in England and abroad, and for 

 which I have gained much praise from scientific 

 naturalists. To proceed, the tools requisite for the 

 proper " making up " of the skins, the most useful next 

 to the knife or scalpel is a pair of straight scissor- 

 forceps, such as are used by surgeons for polypus of 

 the nose, about seven inches long, a scalpel for small, 

 a knife for large birds, two pairs of scissors, large and 

 small, a pair of spring tweezers, needles, cotton, 

 thread, pins, cottonwool, tow, arsenical soap and some 

 pine boxwood sawdust as used by jewellers, and ground 

 alum for large birds, any of these instruments of 

 course can be duplicated for a very lengthened stay. 



• The easiest bird to commence practice with here in 

 England is the common starling, having a good tough 

 skin of his own ; unpractised fingers will not be so 

 liable to injure as with a more tender skinned bird. 



Remove the cotton- wool that was pushed into the 

 throat when shot, and break the wing bones as close 

 to the body as possible, lay the bird on a table or 

 anything that is about that height, sometimes I have 

 skinned the bird laid on my knee whilst sitting on the 

 ground, take the length on a rule marked in inches 

 and tenths from tip of bill to end of tail-feathers ; with 

 the bill pointing to the left, part the feathers of the 



breast with the left thumb and forefinger, and make 

 an incision with the knife from near the top of the 

 keel of the breast bone to near the anus, part the 

 skin from the body by pushing with the handle of the 

 knife, holding the skin by the left forefinger on both 

 sides until the legs are exposed to view, cut through 

 the joint first seen on either side and skin round the 

 back a little further, using some of the sawdust dusted 

 on the body and feathers round the opening, then 

 push the skin over the breast when the broken wings 

 will be seen, cut through both and through the neck 

 close to the body, using plenty of the sawdust to soak 

 up and prevent any moisture from the body soiling 

 the feathers, then the body can be removed altogether 

 by skinning down the back, and cutting off at the base 

 of the tail, not too close to the root of the tail-feathers, 

 lay the body aside for the present, skin the thigh, and 

 clean the thigh bone of all flesh, the easiest way is to 

 cut through the thinnest part, cutting the sinews and 

 stripping up to the joint where first cut through, and 

 cut the joint and flesh right away, brush a little arsenical 

 soap on the bone and skin, and wrap around the bone 

 enough cotton-wool to make up to the size of the 

 flesh taken away and return the leg to its normal 

 position, repeat with the other, then with the wings, 

 skin down to the first joint from the body and cut 

 away the flesh, tie a piece of cotton on each stump 

 of bone, and return the wings to their proper places 

 after brushing a little soap on the bone, take hold of the 

 neck in the right hand and strip down the skin with 

 the left forefinger and thumb until the base of the skull 

 appears ; then come the ears, which dig out with the 

 point of the knife, taking care not to cut the skin. Skin 

 on until the eyes are reached, being extremely careful 

 not to cut the eyelid, which is a great detriment to 

 the look of the skin when finished, or to cut into the 

 eyeball, which take out with the handle of the knife. 

 Skin right down to the bill, and cut the base of the 

 skull right away, but not the joint of the mandibles, 

 which just miss, then with the scissors cut the flesh 

 from between the lower mandible with the tongue 

 right to the top of the skull, when all the flesh and 

 brains will come away together. Then with a brush 

 cover with arsenical soap and turn right side out, the 

 feathers will look rather rough at first, but with a little 

 shaking and manipulating the feathers will all come 

 into their right places. Take the two ends of the cotton 

 which were tied to the stumps of the wing bones and 

 tie them together, leaving the natural width of the 

 back. Between the cotton and the skin of the back 

 place a small piece of cotton wool, which gives a nice 

 level back to the skin. With the scissor-forceps take a 

 piece of cotton-wool, about the size of the eye taken 

 out, and insert up the neck through the skull into the 

 orbital space, then with a piece of cotton-wool or tow 

 somewhere about the size of the original body and 

 neck, with the scissor-forceps fill out the neck and 

 body, making the neck rather short. A good plan where 

 practicable is to have a bird in the flesh lying before 

 you, and so make the skin as near like it as possible. 

 Then with a needle and cotton proceed to sew up 

 the incision first made, beginning at the vent and 

 finishing off at the breast, a few stitches will suffice, 

 and the two edges of the skin need not be drawn close 

 together, as the feathers will cover the open space. 

 Then arrange the feathers of the breast with spring 



