"making up" from pieces. 205 



grease. Patience and several cleanings are all tliat are neces- 

 sary. 



Dark plumaged birds — wMch. may liave liglit or wMte parts — 

 will require care in cleaning, in order tliat their darker feathers 

 may not be dulled by contact with the white plaster. Should 

 this happen, however, in spite of all pains, it will be found that 

 beating with feathers, and a light touching over with wadding, 

 on which a very little benzoline has been poured, will brighten 

 them up wonderfully. Ostrich and other feathers may be 

 effectually cleaned by any of the foregoing methods, and, by 

 management, re-curled with a blunt knife and the fingers. 



"Making up" feom Pieces. — I have before mentioned (at 

 p. 11, and also at p. 201) that birds are sometimes made up 

 feather by feather, and also when pulled to pieces for "relaxing." 

 The first is simply pretty pastime, which any person possessed 

 of patience, some little ability, and a stock of feathers, paste, 

 and paper, may indulge in as a recreation. 



The latter, however, is a different matter, and is practised is 

 cases where a bird's skin is accidentally torn in several parts, or 

 drops to pieces when " relaxed " through imperfect curing, or by 

 old age. When this happens, the amateur need not feel as if 

 the world would be the next thing to tumble to pieces, but 

 simply get to work thus: Make a body of tow, with neck 

 attached, as described in pp. 107, 108 ; next, pull the legs off (if 

 they have not previously fallen oft*), wire them, and attach them 

 firmly to the body by clenching their free ends ; bend these legs 

 into the position you wish the specimen ultimately to assume 

 and attach the wires at the feet to a block or perch. A T» 

 formed of two pieces of wood, the bottom end attached to a block, 

 is, perhaps, the best support, as you can get all round to adjust 

 everything, even to the tail. Your progress up to this point 

 is simply a headless neck attached to a tow body, supported by 

 natural legs fixed to a perch. I assume that your fragments aro 

 sufficiently relaxed, and the feathers cleaned and nearly dried. 

 All the fat must, of course, have been scraped off the inside of 

 each piece of skin. Arrange these pieces in the order they should 

 come upon the model, to get the " fit," as a dressmaker would 

 arrange the patterns of a dress upon a lady. Notice where your 

 model is too small or misshapen, and bind on pieces of tow ; or 



