108 
Making Skins of Large Birds 
As series of large birds are bulky and take up too much room in 
shipping and storage, the skins are reduced in size as much as is consistent 
with exhibiting all parts of the plumage. The body is preferably made 
of excelsior or coarse tow wound with heavy thread or twine, and made 
smaller than the real body; and the body is flattened a bit aftqr the filling 
is put in, so that the specimens will not have to be stored in an abnormally 
deep tray or drawer. A made-up skin is difficult to ship or store if more 
than about feet in length, and large birds with long neck, legs, or feet 
will need to have these shortened by bending; a wire instead of a stick must 
be used in the neck. Large herons may have the neck bent into a graceful 
curve (Figure 41), but small heron’s necks may be stiffened with a stick 
and treated in the same way as ducks. If it is necessary to bend the 
bird’s neck back, run the neck along one side of the body outside of the 
wing, and not down the middle of the back or abdomen. Large and irregu- 
lar skins cannot be wrapped wholly in cotton, and strips of paper or loose- 
meshed cloth pinned around them will help to retain the shape of the skin 
until dry. 
In hawks, the sides of the crop should be brought together with a 
stitch from the inside. This prevents the usually untidy appearance of 
throat and upper breast in hawk skins. 
Trouble is often caused by twisting of the breast feathers, particularly 
in water birds with short contour feathers, causing a groove to appear 
along the median line of the breast. In cleaning the skin it is important 
to break up the fibrous tissue around most of the feather roots with a 
pointed bone scraper or similar tool, for about one-half inch back from 
the belly cut. On freshly skinned specimens, according to Mr. Charles 
H. M. Barrett, the feather twisting can be prevented in most cases by 
moistening and relaxing the skin with water before sewing up the cut. 
It is also better to make the stitches through the skin near the edge but 
not running over the edge. This draws the fleshy edges of the skin 
together and prevents the stiff contour feathers from being cramped 
inwards as the skin dries. 
Brooks’ Method of Making Duck and Goose Skins 
One of the common older methods of reducing the length of duck and 
goose skins was to bend the neck and lay the head along the back or breast. 
This was an unsatisfactory way, as part of the plumage was hidden and 
the neck was frequently broken by lifting it up to look underneath. If 
the neck has to be bent back, it is better to lay the neck along one side of 
the body. The duck and goose skins prepared by the method of Major 
Allan Brooks may well be taken as models of neatness, convenience, and 
compactness (Figure 41). The neck is extended, but shortened by curving. 
A strong, stiff stick is used for the foundation of the neck filling and a 
small ball of cotton is made fast around the anterior end of the stick and 
the rest loosely wound. The round ball is thrust into the cavity of the 
skull and held fast by expansion of the cotton. The neck skin is shoved 
up to make it shorter and looser, bent into an elongated S-curve, and loose 
strips of cotton are put in if necessary on each side of the stick. A large 
