4 
II. METHOD OF PREPARING AND PRESERVING DIFFERENT 
OBJECTS. 
Birds. — Immediately after a bird is shot, the holes 
made by the shot should be plugged up, and the mouth 
and nostrils filled with cotton, to prevent the escape of 
blood and the juices of the stomach. A long narrow 
paper cone should be made, the bird, if small enough? 
thrust in head foremost, and the open end folded clo- 
ser, taking care not to break or bend the tail feathers 
in the operation. When ready to proceed to skinning, 
remove the old cotton from the throat, mouth and nos- 
trils, and replace it by fresh. Then take the dimensions, 
from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, from the 
tip of one wing to that of the other, when both are ex- 
tended, and from the tip of the wing to the first or car- 
pal joint. 
This being done, make an incision through the skin 
only, from the lower end of the breast bone, to the 
anus. Should the intestines protrude in small speci- 
mens, they had better be extracted, great care being 
taken not to soil the feathers. Nc-w proceed to separ- 
ate the skin on each side carefully from the subjacent 
parts, until you reach the knee, and expose the thigh ; 
when taking the leg in one hand, push or thrust the 
knee up on the abdomen, and loosen the skin around it 
until you can place the scissors or knife underneath 
and separate the joint with the accompanying muscles.- 
Place a little cotton between the skin and body to 
prevent adhesion. Loosen the skin about the base of 
the tail, and cut through the vertebrae at the last joint 
taking care not to sever the bases of the quills. Sus- 
pend the body by inserting the hook into the lower 
part of the back or rump, and invert the skin, loosening 
DSI 
