38 THE TAXIDERMIST'S GUIDE. 



as preliminaries ; but, like matter without manner, of little avail 

 alone. For attitude, I would say, as has been said to many a 

 young artist, go to Nature, and there you will find an original in 

 perfection. Would you make a willow-wren look like a willow- 

 wren, watch him as he there hangs upon the weeping birch, or 

 stands on a bough peering in quest of food ? Each bird has its 

 own manner, and if you cannot hit the manner, or make your 

 stuffed skin so far amenable as to assume the attitude, it is either 

 ill-stuffed, or you want the requisite knowledge of that which 

 you should copy. 



BIRD PINNED UP. 



Having fixed on the attitude, it now only remains to put the 

 feathers into their natural order as smoothly and regularly as 

 possible ; and to keep them in this state Fig. 17. 



tbey should be bound around with 

 small fillets of muslin fastened with 

 pins, as represented in 1\g. 17. The 

 bird should then be thoroughly dried, 

 by placing it in an airy situation, if in 

 Summer ; or if in Winter, near the fire, 

 but not so close as to affect the natural 

 oil contained in the feathers. The 

 want of proper attention in diying 

 ruins many a fine specimen ; if long kept damp putridity ensues 

 despite all preservatives, when the skin will become rotten, and 

 the feathers will soon fall off; besides, the mold and •long-con- 

 tinued damp change the chemical properties of the preservatives 

 used. 



After the bird has been thoroughly dried, the fillets are re- 

 moved ; the wire which protruded from the head is cut off as 

 close to the skull as possible, with the wire-cutting pincers else- 

 where shown. It must then be attached to a circular, or other 

 shaped piece of wood, with the generic and specific name and 

 sex, as well as its country and locality attached to it, on a small 

 ticket, when it may be placed in a museum. 



Young hands commonly suppose that a bird should stand bolt 

 upright, with the legs almost perpendicular, or at right angles to 

 the perch. This is a great mistake, and never to be found in 



