56 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



\Jidy i, 1 89 1 



An Easy Way of making One Hundred 

 Pounds Sterling a Year in Collecting 

 Specimens of Natural History at Leisure 

 Time. 



Continued from pages 7, 15, 23, 32. 



In large birds above the ske of a thrush it is 

 necessary to skin the wings, this is done from the 

 outside, the skin is cut along the inside of the wing, 

 and all the flesh that can be is removed without 

 separating the shafts of the large wing-feathers from 

 the bone to which they are attached. In most ducks 

 and in birds whose heads are larger than their necks 

 a different method is adopted to the foregoing. In 

 these cases the neck is skinned close up to the head 

 and then cut off, and when turned right side out again 

 a cut is made in the skin from just behind the eye 

 over the ear and a little down the side of the neck as 

 much as will allow the head to be skinned in the 

 usual manner, the skull replaced and the cut neatly- 

 sewn up ; with long legged birds as flamingoes,, 

 herons and such like it is as well to draw the sinews 

 of the legs, this is done by cutting across the ball of 

 the foot and taking up the sinews with a pointed stick 

 or steel point forcibly draw them out, this keeps the 

 horny covering from slipping off, through the decom- 

 position of the muscles, and the bird mounter can get 

 a strong enough wire up to hold the bird firmly upon 

 its legs ; thick toed birds such as eagles, vultures, &c, 

 should have the feet cut underneath and the toes 

 skinned, and any sinews cut away and just brushed 

 with arsenical soap and sewn up with a few stitches ; 

 birds feathered to their toes should have their legs 

 skinned also, and the flesh that is taken out replaced 

 by tow or cotton-wool wrapped around t he bone, 

 taking care that the most is put where the most was 

 taken away. 



All this may seem to be rather difficult at first to the 

 beginner in taxidermy, but after a few weeks' practice 

 and attention to the above concise description he will 

 be surprised at the ease with which he will be able to 

 skin and make up the birds, he or she, for amongst 

 the fair sex may be numbered some few expert 

 taxidermists, may experiment upon. I may conclude 

 this article by saying that practice, as in other things, 

 is the only way to make good skins. 



In skinning Mammals, the specimen is laid upon 

 its back and an incision made along the median line 

 of the belly, from just behind the forelegs, reaching 

 nearly to the anus ; the skin is separated by cutting 

 with the knife between the skin and body ; skin as far 

 as possible on either side until the hind legs can be 

 cut through where they join the body, then cut 

 through the root of the tail, turn the skin inside out, 

 and skin down until the fore-legs are reached separat- 

 ing these from the body, leaving the blade-bone 

 attached to the legs ; skin on until the base of the 

 ears are come to, which cut through close to the skull. 

 The eyes are now reached, very great care being taken 

 not to cut the eyelid ; in specimens of deer the "tear" 

 or lachrymal sinus must be skinned out close to the 

 bone ; the mouth comes next, which again cut close 

 to the skull, likewise at the nose and lips. The 

 carcase can now be laid aside. Skin the legs down 



to the toes and cut away all the flesh from the 

 bones, leaving the ligaments holding the joints 

 together; as each leg-bone is cleaned of flesh, smear 

 with arsenical soap, or in large specimens dust on 

 alum, and make up with tow or cotton-wool to the 

 size of the flesh cut away, and turn right side out ; 

 should there be any particles of flesh or Jat adhering 

 to the skin these should be cut or scraped away ; 

 now with Mammals up to the size of Foxes the 

 tail in nearly every instance can be "slipped," this 

 is done by tying a piece of string to the root of 

 the tail, which hitch on to some convenient tree or 

 post and pass the root of the tail between the two 

 handles of the largest pair of scissors, or two pieces 

 of square wood, with the string on one side and 

 the skin on the other ; then with a steady pull the 

 tail, bone, muscles and flesh will slip out whole, 

 leaving the tail attached to the string and the skin 

 a tapered cylinder, down which some alum should 

 be pushed with a stick or wire right to the tip. 

 In larger Mammals with stronger muscles the tail 

 should be slit down from base to tip, all the bones 

 and flesh taken out, alumed and a little tow placed 

 in and sewn up. We come now to the most 

 troublesome and most tedious part of the whole 

 process with which too much care cannot be taken; 

 the flesh from the roots of the ears should be cut 

 off, but not the gristle, and the ears skinned three- 

 parts the way to the tip, nothing being cut away and 

 alumed, the eyelids " split," that is, the knife passed 

 between the inner and outer skin but not right 

 through, the inner skin being left on ; the lips and 

 nose also split and all superfluous flesh cut away. 

 After aluming the skin it can be turned right side 

 out, the body partly filled out with tow if small, 

 dried grass if large, and the incision sewn up. The 

 head should now be cut off the carcase, and the 

 skull cleaned of flesh and brains and a label with 

 the number of the specimen attached. In the case 

 of horned animals, when taking the carcase out the 

 skull should be severed from the neck and a Y- 

 shaped incision made from the outside of the skin, 

 the upper angle of the Y beginning at the base of 

 each horn on top of the head and meeting between 

 the ears ; the perpendicular line of the Y runs down 

 the back of the neck sufficiently far to allow the 

 base of the skull to be protruded whilst skinning 

 the head ; the skin requires to be skinned right off 

 the skull, so that the skull can be cleaned and the 

 skin dried. For flat skins, which are eventually 

 required to be mounted into rugs and for orna- 

 mental purposes, the first incision should commence 

 at the one corner of the mouth and continued right 

 down to the tip of the tail, a cut from this line at 

 right angles down the inside of each leg to the toes 

 will allow the whole carcase with head legs and tail 

 attached to be removed, the ears skinned, eyes and 

 lips split, as above, alumed and stretched out to dry, 

 the neatest way being to sew loops of string or hide at 

 intervals of a few inches all round the skin and a peg 

 stuck in the ground at each loop ; this should be done 

 in a dry shady place, not in the sun, some dry grass 

 being first placed loosely on the ground to allow the 

 air to circulate to facilitate the drying ; the skull should 

 also be saved, where practicable, and a label attached 



