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Hoyes Lloyd (1918) described a method of extracting oil from old 
bird skins by an apparatus in which ether (CoH^loO is vaporized and the 
specimen is repeatedly washed and soaked in freshly distilled ether until 
not a vestige of fat remains. The ether quickly evaporates and the colour 
of the feathers remains unchanged. This method was tried out in the 
National Museum of Canada using a non-explosive solvent, carbon tetra- 
chloride, and the experiment was successful. 
The writer has successfully cleaned greasy “made-up” skins of bats and 
flat skins of other small mammals by suspending them in a glass bottle 
or jar of carbon tetrachloride for a day or so, and then drying the skins 
between sheets of white blotting paper or bunches of old newspapers. The 
hair comes out beautifully clean, but is improved by a little brushing. 
Grease floats to the top of the heavy carbon tetrachloride and may 
be skimmed off, whereas grease usually sinks in the gasoline solution, and 
the top layers may be carefully decanted off. If the residue is dirty it 
may be filtered or strained through chamois skin. 
Remaking Old Bird Skins 
J. Dewey Soper (1943) has perfected a quick and easy method of 
remaking old bird skins that do not require thorough degreasing. The 
stitches are severed and as much filling removed with forceps as can be 
taken without tearing the skin. A small quantity of warm water is injected 
with a small syringe into the neck and skull through the ventral opening. 
The body skin in then swabbed inside with wet cotton and a small quantity 
of this wet material placed inside. If care is used the feathers do not come 
into contact with w r ater anyw'here. The skin is then laid aw r ay in a closed 
tin box where it will become soft and pliable in a few hours; usually over 
night if it can be w r orked on the next morning. After relaxing, as a pre- 
caution to ensure preservation, the w r et cotton filling is removed and the 
inside of the skin lightly dusted with arsenic and borax. The process from 
then on is simply the present-day one of making up a bird skin, not 
neglecting to use a stick the length of neck and body on which to w'rap 
the filling cotton. Before or after sewing up the abdominal cut any grease 
that may have exuded on the belly feathers of w r ater birds should be 
wiped off with carbon tetrachloride, and this small area is readily dried 
with fine sawdust and plaster. Mr. Soper states that by the above pro- 
cedure following relaxation a couple of dozen small birds can be completely 
restored in the course of a few r hours work. 
Skinning Downy Young Birds 
Young birds in the “dowmy” or “natal” plumage are of great interest 
and the young of many species are rare in collections. Most species of 
shore birds (Limicolae) and some of the ducks and geese breed only in 
the far north, in regions that ornithologists seldom visit. Even in more 
accessible localities, the young birds are seldom seen. They begin to change 
into the feathers of the first autumn plumage within a few r days after 
hatching, and are only obtainable by a collector who is on the breeding 
ground for a few' days at hatching time. Even when a nest of eggs is found 
and watched during incubation time, it is hard to catch the young, as they 
run away and hide as soon as hatched. Messrs. H. W. Brandt and 0. J. 
