INSTRUCTIONS FOE. THE PRESERVATION 
OE BIRDS. 
General Remarks. 
A little patience and a little practice are all that is wanted to 
make a good skin of a bird. Also it should be remembered that no 
more time is wanted to make a good skin than a bad one. Thus it 
should be the aim of every naturalist to attain perfection in the art 
of preparing specimens ; and, after all, this is very easy. 
The skinning of a bird demands but few tools. Many collectors 
require a penknife only ; but the tyro should at least be provided 
with a sharp knife or scalpel, a pair of stout nail-scissors, as well 
as some arsenical soap, bleached wool, tow, and a sharp-pointed 
awl or darning-needle. 
The knife is needed for making the first incision, and it is useful 
for scraping off fat from the skin. The nail-scissors are wanted for 
cutting through the flesh, and severing the tendons and the bones at 
their joints. 
Arsenical soap is the best preservative ; but powdered arsenic is 
also largely used, and has this advantage — that it dries the skins 
quickly in a damp climate, whereas arsenical soap keeps the skin 
moist for a longer period. There is always a certain danger in 
carrying powdered arsenic about ; but it is also certain that the best 
skins now in our museums are those made by American naturalists, 
who always preserve with this ingredient. For the purposes of 
mounting, arsenical soap is much to be preferred, as the skin is 
always more lissom, while specimens preserved with powdered 
arsenic shrink and dry, and are never so easy to mount. Burnt 
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