30 
FIELD ORNITHOLOGY. 
way ; for large ones, rest the affair on the table or your lap. To skin the head, secure the 
body in the position just indicated, by confining the neck between your left thumb and fore- 
finger ) bring the right fingers and thumb to a cone over the head, and draw it out with gentle 
force; or, holding the head itself between the left thumb and forefinger, insert the handle of 
the scalpel between the skin and skull, and pry a httle, to enlarge the neck-cylinder of skin 
enough to let the head pass. It will generally ^ slip out of its hood very readily, as far as its 
greatest diameter ; ^ there it sticks, being in fact pinned by the ears. Still holding the bird as 
before, with the point of the scalpel handled like a nut-picker, or with your thumb-nail, detach 
the delicate membrane that lines the ear-opening ; do the same for the other ear. The skull is 
then shelled out to the eyes, and wdll skin no further of its own accord, being again attached 
by a membrane, around the border of the eye-socket. Holding the scalpel as before, run its 
edge around an arc (a semicircle is enough to let you into the orbit) of the circumference, dis- 
severing the membrane from the bone. Keverse the scalpel, and scoop out the eyeball Avith 
the end of the handle ; you bring out the eye betwixt the ball of your thumb and the handle 
of the instrument, tearing apart the optic nerve and the conjunctival tissue, but taking care 
not to open the eyeball ^ or lacerate the eyelids. Do the same with the other eye. The head 
is then skinned far enough ; there is no use of getting quite to the base of the bill. You have 
now to get rid of the brain and flesh of the nape and jaws,* and leave most of the skull in ; the 
cranial dome makes the only perfect stuffing" for the skin of the head. This is all done at once 
by only four particular cuts. Hold the head between your left thumb and fingers, the bill point- 
ing towards you, the bird's palate facing you ; you observe a space bounded behind by the base 
of the skull where the neck joins, in front by the floor of the mouth, on either side by the prongs 
of the under jaw, — these last especially prominent. Take the scissors; stick one blade just 
inside one branch of the lower jaw, thence into the eye-socket which lies below (the head 
being upside down), thence into the brain-box ; make a cut parallel with the jaw, just inside 
of it, bringing the upper scissor blade perpendicularly downward, crashing through the skull just 
inside of the angle of the jaw. Duplicate this cut on the other side. Connect the anterior 
ends of these cuts by a transverse one across the floor and roof of the mouth. Connect the 
posterior ends of the side cuts by one across the back of the skull near its base, — just where 
the nape-muscle ceases to override the cranium. You have enclosed and cut out a squarish- 
shaped mass of bone and muscle, and, on gently pulling the neck (to which of course it 
remains attached), the whole affair comes out, bringing the brain with it, but leaving the 
entire roof of the skull supported on a scaffolding of jaw-bone. It only remains to skin the 
wings. Seize the arm-stump with fingers or forceps ; the upper arm is readily drawn from its 
sheath as far as the elbow; but the wing must be skinned to the wrist (carpus — ^^bend of 
the wing ") ; yet it wiU not come out so easily, because the secondary quills grow to one of the 
fore-arm bones (the ulna), pinning down the skin the whole way along a series of points. To 
break up these connections, hold the upper arm firmly with the left thumb and forefinger, the 
convexity of the elbow looking towards you ; press the right thumb-nail closely against the 
back edge of the ulna, and strip downward, scraping the bone with the nail the whole way. 
If you only hit the line of adhesions, there is no trouble at all about this. Now you want to 
1 The special case of head too large for the calibre of the neck is treated beyond. 
- And you will at once find a great apparent increase of amount of free skin in your hand, owing to release 
and extension of all that was before shortened in length by circular distension, in enlargement of the neck- 
cylinder. 
3 An eyeball is much larger than it looks from the outside ; if you stick the instrument straight into the 
socket, you may punch a hole in the ball and let out the water ; a very disagreeable complication. Insinuate the 
knife-handle close to the rim of the socket, and hug the wall of the cavity throughout. 
* You may of course at this stage cut off the neck at the nape, punch a hole in the base of the skull, dig out 
the brains, and scrape away at the jaw-muscles till you are satisfied or tired ; an unnecessary job, during which 
the skin may have become dry and shrivelled and hard to turn right side out. The operation described in the 
text may require ten seconds, perhaps. 
