206 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



paste and bind on wadding, excepting near tlie wings, where 

 wires would fail to pierce wool or wadding. When properly 

 shaped, give the whole of the model a good dressing with flour 

 paste (see page 88, No. 31), into which a little carbolic acid has 

 been stirred. Paste the inside of each piece of skin with this, 

 and commence to finally rearrange them. As a rule, the under 

 and breast pieces are fixed first, then the wings are wired* and 

 firmly clenched on the body; adjust the wings into proper 

 position, bringing the breast feathers over at the shoulders ; 

 next, put on the wing coverts, the back, the tail (firmly wired), 

 and the upper and under tail coverts ; lastly, the head and neck 

 pieces, shaping the made neck into position, &c., as you proceed. 

 Sometimes it is necessary to slip a piece of wadding underneath 

 to swell out a certain set of feathers; in this case, lift up the 

 surrounding parts with a crooked awl or with the feather-pliers, 

 and carefully insert the wadding in such a manner that the 

 paste shall not clog the other feathers in juxtaposition. 



When finished to your satisfaction, lightly sponge off any 

 excess of paste with warm water ; wipe down with benzoline, and 

 dust plaster thickly over all the specimen; this assists the 

 drying and cleans it. In an hour or so dust off the plaster with 

 a bunch of feathers, and bind the skin with "wrappmg cotton'* 

 in the usual manner. Set it in a warm place, or in a current of 

 air, for a week or so, to dry, and, lastly, put in the eyes and finish 

 off. The foregoing, though apparently a Caesarian operation, is 

 not difficult to a practised hand. I may, perhaps, here mention, 

 in order to encourage my readers, that I myself once successfully 

 mounted a large snowy owl from thirteen pieces of skin, and 

 that had there been twenty-three it would have come out just 

 as well. 



In '' relaxing" it is often better, especially in such specimens 

 as Birds of Paradise, to pull off the legs and wings; by this 

 means the skin is more easily stretched, and always, in the 

 hands of a master, makes up more satisfactorily than by any 

 other means. 



* Note that even in c!ose--winged birds, •which a pieced specimen such as this one 

 described must be of necessity, it is always advisable to wire the wings as for flight (see 

 page lh<], running them on these wires clo?e to the body, and giving them by this means the 

 necessary cmvature; entirely different, and much more natural, than if simply bolted on 

 hy.struight wiies running thi-ough the shoulders into the body. 



