SKINNING AND PRESERVING BIRDS. 99 



care not to let the point of the knife cut upward so as to 

 burst the eye, or the effect will be to liberate the dark-coloured 

 pigment or the vitreous humour, and thus wet or stain the 

 feathers. Having done all this, there will still remain some 

 little flesh at the back of the eye and the junction of the 

 mandibles, and this must be carefully cut away so as not to 

 dis- articulate the latter. The Preservative Paste now comes into 

 requisition, and with this the skull and orbits are well painted in- 

 side and out. A little tow, previously chopped by the medium 

 of a sharp pair of scissors, is now pushed into the empty skull, 

 with the " stuffing iron," which is a small piece of thick wire 

 (see Fig. 21). For large birds the tow forceps (see Fig. 20) 

 may be conveniently used. 



Having neatly filled the head with the tow, proceed to put 

 a small piece of cotton wadding in each orbit. {Note, be careful 

 that tow only is pushed into the head, as if never so small 

 a piece of wadding gets into the cavity of the head it will 

 effectually prevent any subsequent mounting of the specimen, 

 as, singular though it may appear, a small piece of wadding 

 is more than a match for a pointed wire.) 



During all this time the neck must be kept as short and as 

 little stretched as possible. In some birds a line of fat will be 

 observed extending from the neck to the back or even to the 

 breast, which must be as carefully as possible scraped off the skin 

 by using the edge of the knife, guided by the thumb. Having 

 done, this, paint the neck only with the preservative, and lay the 

 skin on the paper, back upward and tail from you; the under part 

 of the head in this position points upward. Place the thumbs 

 of both hands, their nails touching each other, at the back of 

 the head with the first two fingers of each hand placed in this 

 wise: fore fingers along the side of the face, second fingers 

 underneath on the top of the skin of the head; then, by gently 

 pushing with the thumbs and pulling or scratching, as it were, 

 with the other fingers, gradually force the head through until 

 the mandibles appear, as also the eyelids. Let go with the right 

 hand, still keeping the thumb of the left pressing against the 

 head ; and, by gently working with the two first fingers of the 

 left hand outside the feathers, and by pulling the beak upward 

 and toward you with the right, the bird is returned to the posi- 



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