C "4 ] 



ground-work J or tree, or other thing, you defign 

 to fet your bird on, together with the bill and 

 legs of the bird in water-colours, leaving the 

 bird to be covered with its own natural feathers. 

 You muft firft prepare the part to be feathered, 

 by laying on pretty thick gum Arabic, diflblved 

 in water, with a large hair pencil ; then lay the 

 pannel flat, and let it dry hard, and when dry 

 cover it with your gum«water a fécond time, 

 and let it dry, and then a third, in cafe you do 

 not find it lie with a good body on the paper ; 

 the thicknefs of a (hilling, when dried hard, is 

 fufficient. When your piece is thus prepared, 

 take the feathers off from your bird, as you ufe 

 them, beginning always at the tail, and points 

 of the wing, and working upwards to the head ; 

 obferving to cover that part of your drauglit 

 with the feather, that you take from the fame 

 part in your bird, letting them fall one over 

 another in their natural order. You muft pre- 

 pare your feathers by cutting off the downy 

 part that is about their bottoms ; and the larger 

 feathers muft have the infides of their ftiafts 

 ihaved off with a knife, to make them lie flat ; 

 the quills of the wings muft have their inner 



webs 



