3 
from drying and becoming brittle, 
is cut out completely. 
The skin must be scraped 
thoroughly so that all fat and 
flesh are eliminated. It is best 
to scrape the skin until the feather 
tracts become visible. Bird skins 
with excess fat are washed in soap 
or detergent, and rinsed and soaked 
in gasoline for two or three hours. 
The skin is squeezed and blown dry 
with an air blower. 
Next the skin is turned right 
side out. Balls of cotton slightly 
smaller than the eyeballs are in- 
serted into the orbits with for- 
ceps. The ends of the wing bones 
are tied together to hold the wings 
into the body. 
Constructing the new cotton or 
excelsior body is probably the most 
difficult step. This body is simi- 
lar in form but slightly smaller 
than the skinned body. A stiff 
wire, sharpened on one end, is 
thrust through the excelsior body 
as shown in Figure 1. The body is 
then wrapped with thread and cotton 
(Cont’d on next page) 
