62 PRACTICAL TAXIDEKMT. 



some smltli, and you thus get a finislied tool for about half 

 what it would cost to make outright. Length, when finished, 

 should be somewhere about lOin. 



A large and a fine crooked awl with handles, a file, and a 

 rough stone from the leatherseller's, are other things to procure, 

 and these, with the ten tools previously particularised, some tow, 

 wool, wire, eyes, and a needle and thread, a pot of preservative 

 paste, and a piece of wood or a wire for a stuffing iron, are all 

 that the amateur or the professional requires to skin and stuff a 

 small or medium-sized bird or mammal. Cost of the stone and 

 tools (which, with ordinary care, will last for years) should be 

 within the reach of all. 



The " stuffing iron " mentioned above is best made, if wanted 

 for small birds, from the broken steel of a wool comber's "devil," 

 about nine inches long, fixed in a bradawl handle of about four 

 inches, or, if for large birds or mammals, the iron may be made 

 from a broken fencing foil, to any size between twelve and thirty 

 inches, with suitable handle. In either case the smallest end is 

 driven into the handle, and the top is filed across with a smooth 

 nick, to push in, but not to retain the tow. See Fig. 21. 



This, I would point out to the non-professional reader, is a 

 m.uch more satisfactory way of getting thoroughly efficient 

 tools than going to the expense of ordering a box of "bird- 

 stuffing implements," at a cost of many pounds and finding 

 one half of them unnecessary, and the other half worthless. 



. ? -*. a^ . ■ 



