SKINNING. 33 



in a strong solution of the pounded alum, and then pull the leg by 

 the claw, by which means the skin will be brought again to its 

 place. 



After having served both legs alike, skin carefully round the 

 back, cutting off and leaving in the tail with that into which the 

 feathers grow, that is, the " Pope's nose." Serve the wing bones 

 the same as the leg, cutting them off close to the body, and turn 

 the skin inside out down to the head. The back of the skull will 

 then appear,* and you will now find it of advantage, as soon as you 

 have got the legs and tail free, to tie a piece of string round the 

 body, and hang it up as a butcher skins a sheep. Make in the 

 Fig. 10. 



back of the skull a cut of the annexed form, with your knife, 

 which you can turn back like a trap-door, and with the marrow- 

 spoon entirely clear out the brains ; A representing the neck, and 

 u the skin turned back. Having done this, wash the interior of 

 the skull thoroughly with the alum, and fill it with cotton wad- 

 ding. The next operation reqires care and practice— namely, to 

 get out the eyes. This is done by cutting cautiously until the 

 lids appear, being careful not to cut the eye itself, and you can 

 then, with a forceps, which you will likewise find useful, pull each 

 from its socket ; wipe the orifice carefully, wash it with the alum 

 solution, and fill it with cotton wadding. Cut off the neck close 

 to the skull, wash the stump, and the whole of the interior of the 

 skin with the alum, and the skinning is done. Now comes the 

 stuffing. The ordinary mode used by bird-preservers is a simple 

 one, and answers very well ; there is a French method, however, 

 which has its advantages, and will be adverted to hereafter. Take 

 a piece of the wire suitable to the size of the bird — that is, as 

 large as the legs will carry — and bencl it into the following form, a 



