110 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



head, as it permanently ruffles the feathers if left until the 

 specimen is dry. 



This is binding for a closed-winged bird ; but for one whose 

 wings are to be thrown up, say a hawk on flight, the modus 

 operandi is slightly different; wire stays and card braces now 

 supplement " wi-apping " cotton. The bird being opened on its 

 worst side is stuffed in the usual manner as far as getting the 

 neck up into the skull, the attached body is now bolted through 

 near the top of the cut by the wing, by a long wire sufficiently 

 strong to keep the bird suspended; this wire, heing firmly clenched 

 on the opposite side of the body to the cut, has its free end, of 

 course, depending from the incision under the wing. The next 

 thing to do is to support the wings in the position necessary to 

 represent flight. For this purpose, point four wires sufficiently 

 long to extend the wings, and to come through the body to be 

 clenched. Two of these wires should be of a size thinner than 

 the other two. Select the wing on the side of the body farthest 

 from the cut, and enter the point of one of the thickest wires in 

 the wing at the end of the part called the " metacarpus " (i, 

 Plate II) ; push it gently along between the bone and the skin — 

 meanwhile holding the wing with the left-hand fingers — along 

 the side of or between the "radius and ulna," finally pushing it 

 into the body at the shoulder, and clenching it when it comes 

 thi'ough, which it should do under the opposite wing at the cut. 

 It is often very difficult or impossible to get the wire to go 

 through the "carpus;" it will suffice, therefore, if, after coming 

 along the metacarpus, it just misses the carpus and enters 

 the skin again at the junction of the radius and ulna. If 

 properly managed, the wire will be snugly hidden in the skin 

 of the wing by the feathers of the parts along which it has 

 travelled. 



Do likewise with the other wing, but this wire often cannot be 

 carried right through to the opposite side, and must therefore 

 be finnly secured in the body on its own side ; next fix the legs 

 in the manner before detailed, or, as the bird is to be represented 

 on flight, the wires need only be entered at the tibio-tarsal joint 

 (q, Plate II). Push a wire in the tail, and sew up the incision 

 under the wing. The bird has now its wings, legs, and tail 

 fixed, and the free end of the supporting wire is sticking out 



