8 
WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING BIRD SKINS. 
Tools Required. — A pair of scissors, a pair 
of dissecting forceps, a scalpel or pen knife, a 
knitting needle and a stout fisli hook. 
Materials. — Cotton batting, plaster of Paris, 
dry arsenic or arsenical soap.* 
First, remove any blood stains by washing 
with water and drying with plaster, renewing 
the plaster and keeping the feathers in motion 
until dry: otherwise the plaster will “set” on 
them. Plug up nostrils, throat and vent. A 
little plaster on the throat plug will help matters, 
as will also a pinch on each eye. Work the wings 
and legs until the joints are relaxed. Lay the bird 
on its back and part the feathers on the under- 
side down the centre. Make a cut from the 
upper end of the breast bone to the vent, ending 
in it.f 
Catch one edge of the cut skin with the forceps 
or finger tips, and work the butt of the scalpel 
between the skin and body. Little, if any, 
cutting will be required. Shovel on plaster to 
keep the skin or feathers from sticking to the 
body, and to absorb any moisture that may ooze 
out. If you have not plaster, use fine sawdust 
or meal, or place a little cotton on the body. 
Work down until you reach the knee. Push up 
the leg from without, insert the point of scissors 
or scalpel under the bend, and sever the leg at 
the joint. Continue to push up the leg until it is 
skinned as far down as possible. Sever the 
tendons low down and tear up the muscles. 
Draw the leg back smoothly and skin the oppo- 
site one. Work the skin well away from the 
sides of the body and down to the base of the 
tail. Cut across the lower bowel, and working 
the point of the scissors carefully under the 
lower part of the back bone, divide it just above 
the roots of the tail feathers. Why a bird’s skin 
was made so very thin at this particular point no 
one knows, but the operation above described 
requires much care, and at first occasionally re- 
sults in detailing the bird. Put on plaster from 
time to time. Work the skin cautiously away 
from the lower part of the back, not pulling it, 
but pushing or cutting at its junction with the 
body. Now insert the hook and hang the bird up 
head downward. After a little practice, this will 
be necessary only with large birds. Peel off the 
skin until you reach the shoulder joint, when, if 
the bird is small, you cut the arm bone close 
below the joint; if the bird is large, disjoint it. 
As soon as the wings are cut loose, the skin 
comes easily away from the neck until the back 
of the skull is reached. From now onward you 
will need to support the skin, as its weight— 
especially in a good sized bird— will otherwise 
stretch the neck, the very part that it is most de- 
sirable not to stretch. Now there will be some 
trouble, for the head is always more or less dis- 
inclined to pass through the neck, but with a 
little coaxing it will come, until the ears are 
reached, j: 
Cut the skin which lines the ear openingywstf 
as near the skull as possible , inserting the scalpel 
point under the front portion, and picking it out 
as it were. Having done this the eyes are almost 
immediately reached, and here it requires cau- 
tious cutting to detach the skin and not cut 
through the eyelid. Also, take care not to cut 
into the eyeball and let the inclosed fluid out on 
the feathers. Skin down to the very base of the 
bill. Nineteen out of every twenty collectors 
slight this point, and with very evil results if the 
bird is ever mounted. Gouge out the eyes; cut 
off the base and under side of skull, and the 
brain and tongue will come away with the neck. 
Scrape the meat from the jaw, and all is done 
save skinning the wings. In small birds you 
may skin the wing to the bend, or wrist — detach- 
* Authorities differ as to which of these is prefer- 
able. We believe arsenical soap to be the more 
efficacious, but it requires care in handling, not to 
daub the feathers. 
t Most authorities say make cut from lower end of 
breast bone, but most authorities have never seen as 
many birdskins mounted as has been our privilege, or 
they would change their mind. 
X Some Woodpeckers, Ducks and others have such 
large heads that they will not pass through the neck. 
In such cases cut off the neck close to the skull, turn 
the skin right side out and make a cut along the top 
and back of the head. Through this opening the skull 
may be skinned out, the other directions being the 
same as for small birds. 
mg the wing feathers from the bone and working 
out the thin strip of muscle on the front edge of 
the wing. Do not remove any bones. If the 
bird is large, or if you know it is to be mounted 
with spread wings, on no account loosen the 
feathers from the bone.§ 
In a small bird remove the muscle with the 
forceps, after having worked down the skin 
as far as possible along the front edge of the 
wing. In a large bird the process is as follows: 
After the skin has been turned right side out, 
make a cut on the under side of the wing, be 
tween the feathers, from elbow to wrist. Turn 
down the flaps of skin and remove the muscles 
by under running them with the scalpel or scis- 
sors, until the insertion of the tendons is reached. 
After poisoning the skull the skin is ready to 
turn back. Put a little ball of cotton in each 
eye socket, enough to fill but not distend it, and 
if the bird is large bring a little down over the 
back angle of the jaw. Work back the skin until 
you can catch the tip of the bill, and holding 
on bjr it gently coax back the skin with the finger 
tips, pushing and not pulling it, and the bird 
will soon be right side out again. Tie the upper 
arm bones quite near together, and wrap a little 
cotton or tow around the leg bones, or if the 
specimen be large, around the upper arm bones 
also. Dr. Coues says this is unnecessary, but he 
speaks from the standpoint of a skin maker and 
not a skin stuffer. Now poison, and poison 
thoroughly , either by shoveling in dry arsenic 
and working it into every cranny of the neck, 
legs and wings, or by pasting on arsenical soap 
liberally. Get plenty on the root of the tail. 
The two little oil glands on the upper side of it 
should be scraped out. Having poisoned, dust 
off the feathers, and lay the skin in shape, 
straightening the neck and making sure that the 
legs and wings are not twisted. With the for- 
ceps, or knitting needle, raise the feathers near 
the roots and let them drop into place. Insert 
the needle in the eye, run it between the skull 
and skin, and work the latter a trifle forward. 
The chances are that the skin has been dragged 
too far backward in turning. Take a roll of 
cotton a trifle longer aud thinner than the bird’s 
neck, catch by twisting one end of it on the 
point of the knitting needle, and push it with a 
twisting motion up the neck until it enters the 
base of the skull. Reverse the twist and with- 
draw the needle. A little practice will teach 
you how to do this and not disarrange the neck 
filling. Make an egg-shaped ball of cotton, some- 
what smaller than the bird’s body and place it 
in the skin, large end up, so that it meets or 
underlies the lower end of the neck. The bird 
is now filled, and if of any size a stitch or two 
will be needed to keep the edges of the cut 
together. Dress the feathers with the forceps or 
knitting needle, work the wings smoothly up on 
the back so that the tips meet, cross the legs 
under the tail || and see that the tail feathers are 
neatly folded. 
The particular points to be observed are these: 
See that the neck is not too long and that the 
shoulders are not crowded up into it. The body 
should curve gradually into the neck, like the 
curve on a champagne bottle. Be sure that the 
legs are not telescoped, that the body is not too 
much distended and that the wings are well up 
on the back. Let the top of the head touch the 
table, so that the bill points forward. Be par- 
ticular about this in long-billed birds, for many 
of these get their bills broken from the fact that 
they stick up too much. Owls, Ducks, and very 
long-necked birds are exceptions to this rule. Let 
the bills of owls — since they are very short — point 
directly upwards, and lay the heads of Ducks 
flat on one side, bill forward. Herons, and very 
often Ducks also, require a particular treatment. 
Bend the neck upward and backward so that 
the head rests over the root of the tail, and let 
the bill point downwards, or rather in a direc- 
tion that would be downwards were the bird 
alive, and neck erect. The reason for this is 
that if the bill points in a line with the neck the 
skin on the throat will be stretched, and if the 
bird is ever mounted will cause unsightly bag- 
ging there. 
§ If the feathers are cut from the bone they will 
droop and moreover cannot be spread evenly. 
1 Bend the limbs of long-legged birds so that the 
toes point forward, the legs crossing on the breast, 
Large and long-legged birds, Hawks, Heronsj- 
etc. , should also have the tendons of the legs 
removed, and the larger the bird the more im- 
perative this is. To do it, make a cut back of 
the heel, and a second in the flesh part of the 
foot; cut off the tendon at the heel, get an awl 
under it through the cut in the foot and pull the 
tendon down. This should be done before skin- 
ning so that the upper part of the tendons can 
be removed when the leg is skinned. This pro- 
cess is of immense value for it enables the legs of 
a dried skin to be rapidly relaxed and easily 
wired, and moreover prevents the scales peeling 
from the leg. There are several ways of laying 
out a bird skin. The first and simplest is to 
roll up the bird carefully in a cylinder of paper, 
securing it with a pin. You will soon learn to 
do this without getting the skin out of shape; 
and this is perhaps the easiest method for field col- 
lecting. The handsomest skins, however, are made 
by completely wrapping the bird in cotton bat- 
ting. By tightening or loosening this 'wherever 
needful, the birds shape can be well imitated. 
For large birds tow may be used for wrapping. 
Or large birds may simply have a band of paper 
pinned around the wings to keep them in place, 
and laid on their backs until dry. If the bill 
persists in opening run a thread through the nos- 
trils and tie under the lower mandible, or stick a 
pin just over the point where the halves of the 
lower mandible join and run it obliquely into 
the under side of the skull. F. A. L. 
MAMMAL SKINS. 
We have been taking an inventory of our 
mammal skins and find that there are now on 
hand about 1,500 specimens; many species of 
which are not in our catalogue. 
The stock is continually changing, specimens 
being daily shipped and received; therefore, it is 
always advisable, when in want of any particular 
specimen, to write us about it, whether or not it 
be mentioned in our catalogues or lists. 
The same remarks are applicable to all 
branches of the establishment. Nothing short of 
weekly catalogues could keep up with the ever 
changing stock. 
THE PORT JACKSON SHARK. 
The Gestracion, or “Port Jackson Shark,” is 
one of those remarkable forms, still living, which 
connect the present world of living beings 
with forms that have long since passed away. 
The Cestracions, now restricted to the seas 
of China and Australia, have left their re- 
mains in thousands in rocks of the Secondary 
Epoch in Great Britain and Europe. The Port 
Jackson Shark and one or two other species are 
the representatives of a vast number of forms 
that have become extinct. The teeth of these 
fishes are adapted for crushing shell-fish and 
crustaceans and they are provided with spines 
on the back for their protection. The crushing 
teeth, which are set as in a pavement, and dor- 
sal spines are full of interest to the geologist. 
The ovodus of the Carboniferous rocks is the 
tooth of a fish allied to the Port Jackson Shark, 
which lived in the days of the Mountain Lime- 
stone. 
We have recently received from Australia, a 
number of specimens of the G. phillipsi , which 
are unusually fine representatives of the genus. 
In some cases the entire specimen is preserved, 
while in others simply the skin iciih skull for 
mounting. 
We also received a number of skeletons of the 
same species, which we can dispose of either in 
the rough, or mounted. 
We offer the above specimens, carefully pack- 
ed and ready for shipment, at the following 
prices : 
C. phillipsi, entire, in alcohol, $8.00 
“ “ skin, with skull, 5.00 
“ “ “ mounted, 18.0b 
“ “ skeleton, rough, 4.00 
neatly mounted, 12. 0u 
