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the grease will come out after a few years. This means that such speci- 
mens are good for only a few years, and many museums have had to go to 
the trouble and expense of degreasing and remaking much of their old 
material. Some of the old ideas about collecting methods have had to be 
radically revised, and it is now recognized that in order to preserve fat 
skins permanently they must be put through a thorough degreasing pro- 
cess with some fat-solvent solution (See page 114). Such methods are 
inconvenient to apply in the field, although if gasoline, benzene, naphtha, 
or a solution of gasoline-alcohol-turpentine is available, the skin after 
careful scraping may be dipped and washed in any cf these fluids., 
squeezed out, and dried by shaking cornmeal, sawdust, or other absorb- 
ent powder over the feathers and beating and brushing until dry. If 
the skin has any blood stains, these should be sponged off before 
degreasing. 
Mr. Wharton Huber, of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 
delphia, who has experimented in this line for several years, wrote the 
author (November 27, 1931): 
“I recommend salting all fat water birds in the field and bringing them home 
to the laboratory to be degreased and made up once and for all, for I find even with 
the great amount of hard scraping that after a few years the grease will come out, 
therefore, it might just as well be done once and for all where we have proper facili- 
ties In the laboratory it is not necessary to salt fresh skins. However, a 
little salt on the skins and allowing them to rest a few days makes the fat much 
easier to remove, but this is a matter of option. We are now degreasing all water 
bird skins whether they are fat or not by this method and are not taking a chance 
on the grease coming out later on to bum the skin and discolour the label.” 
Beck’s Method for Sea Birds 
Mr. R. H. Beck, who has the reputation of being the most experi- 
enced and expeditious collector of sea birds now living, makes the opening 
cut for these birds under one wing, leaving no chance for grease or 
oil to soil exposed feathers. The fatty masses are rapidly removed by 
shearing with heavy shears, and the oil absorbed. The filling is made of 
excelsior or tow wrapped around a stick and inserted through opening 
under the wing. The wings are held in place by using a long needle 
to pass a thread crosswise through the body over a few wing quills and 
back again to be tied over a few wing quills on the first side. The skin 
is wrapped as usual for drying. 
Temporary Preservation of Water Bird Skins 
Fat ducks, geese, swans, and sea birds are often obtained in quan- 
tity on sea voyages, visits to large rookeries, or under conditions that 
make it impossible to preserve more than a very few specimens by the 
ordinary methods. Often there is not time to clean the skins properly 
and no place to dry the skins if made up, so they are apt to become 
mouldy, and distorted in shape. To save valuable time in such emer- 
gencies, the birds may be skinned out completely and blood stains washed 
out of the feathers, but without attempting to remove the fat from the 
skin. In many of the water birds the skin is so thoroughly impregnated 
with fat and oil that thorough and permanent cleaning is not possible by 
