Bird Skinning and Mounting. . 21 



come to the base of the skull. Skin carefully 

 over this, taking great care to detach the thin 

 membrane of the ear, with the thumb-nail or 

 scalpel handle, and proceed until you come to 

 the front part of the eye socket. Cut the thin 

 membrane that covers the eye, taking care not to 

 lacerate the ball ; then scoop out the eyes. Stick 

 one point of the scissors just inside one branch 

 of the lower jaw, and make a cut parallel with 

 the jaw, crushing through the skull just outside 

 the angle of the jaw. Make a duplicate cut on 

 the' other side. Then at the end of these make 

 a transverse cut through the roof of the mouth. 



Connect the posterior ends of the side cuts by 

 cutting across the skull near its base. You have 

 now cut out a square-shaped piece of bone and 

 muscle, and by pulling gently on the neck, this 

 will come out, bringing with it a mass of brain. 

 Remove all brain and muscles of the head. Skin 

 down the wings as far as they will go, and run 

 the thumb-nail along the ulna, detaching the 

 quills to the metacarpal bones ; remove all 

 muscles and tendons. Now turn the skin and 

 shovel in arsenic, so that all parts may be cov- 



