40 
MANUAL OF TAXIDERMY. 
sible, and then a slit should be cut in the back of 
the head, and the head be skinned through this 
orifice, but an abundance of absorbent should be 
used to prevent the feathers from becoming soiled. 
Care should be exercised in skinning cuckoos, 
doves, thrushes, and some species of sparrows, as 
the skin is not only thin, but the feathers start in 
the rump and back very readily. Peel the skin off 
gently, and do not fold it abruptly backward in 
working on these parts, but hold it as nearly as 
possible in its original position. The skin of the 
wood duck, and sometimes that of the hooded 
merganser, adheres to the flesh of the breast, but 
it may be separated by working carefully with the 
back of the knife. In removing the skins of young 
birds in the down, like ducks and gallinaceous birds, 
do not attempt to skin the wings. 
If a specimen is to be mounted with the wings 
spread, the secondaries should not be detached, 
but the knife should be forced down back of the 
primaries in order to break up the muscles ; then 
as much of the flesh as possible should be removed, 
and a quantity of preservative pushed in beneath 
the skin. In larger birds a slit should be made 
on the under side of the wing, and the muscles 
removed from the outside without detaching the 
