INSTRUCTIONS EOR THE PRESERVATION OE BIRDS. 23 
made high enough (but not too high), or the skin will tear across 
the sides of the neck while it is being removed, and the damage is 
irreparable. Some taxidermists make the incision from the vent 
up to the middle of the breast-bone, and begin operations above 
the tail-bone. Again, another excellent way is to make an incision 
from the vent on either side to the upper edge of the thigh. By 
this means a triangular flap is made of the abdominal skin, which 
falls back into place after the body has been taken out, and the 
feathers of the breast are not disturbed at all. If the incision be 
made under the left wing, the joints should be cut through in the 
following order : — left shoulder, neck, right shoulder, left thigh, 
right thigh, tail; or left thigh, tail, right thigh. 
After making a median incision, the skin must be pushed back 
till the left shoulder is exposed : this must be divided at the 
shoulder -joint, the humeral bone being always left with the wing 
(see fig. 2). Then the skin must be carefully pushed back by the 
fingers and thumb-nails till the neck is exposed. This must be cut 
through with the nail-scissors, care being taken not to make a hole 
with their sharp points in the skin below the neck ; the right wing 
must then be attacked, and also severed at the shoulder. All 
this time, with each motion of the fingers, the feathers of the 
breast will be doing their best to soil themselves against the moist 
surface of the body. It is, therefore, necessary to have some saw- 
dust or sand handy to sprinkle over the raw flesh as it becomes 
exposed ; and if this be not available, a wisp of wool laid along 
the base of the feathers will keep them back in a most unexpected 
way : but, as said before, after a few attempts at skinning a bird, 
the fingers will be found to interpose by instinct, and prevent the 
feathers from becoming soiled by contact with the flesh. 
The two wing-joints and the neck being severed from the trunk, 
the skin can easily be pushed off the back of the bird till by degrees 
the thigh-bones are approached. In many birds — such as Thrushes, 
for instance — the skin is very firmly attached to the lower back, and 
any attempt to hurry will end in splitting the skin right across. 
Although an accident of this sort may not ultimately destroy the 
appearance of the skin, it is difficult to restore the natural set of the 
feathers of the upper surface. As the skin is pushed off the lower back 
