18 
MAKING BIRDSKINS 
cut it. 10. When the stump is free from the skin, take hold of it with 
the right hand and with the fingers of the left gently press the skin from 
the body, keeping it constantly turned inside out and using an abun- 
dance of meal. 11. Soon the wing-bones (humeri) will appear. Clip 
them off at either side close to the body, and resume skinning as before. 
12. The skin will slip easily over the neck, and you will then meet 
with an obstruction in the head. 13. Work the skin carefully over the 
head, using the tips of the first two fingers of either hand, placing the 
thumbs as a brace farther forward over the eyes.* 14. Pull the ears 
carefully from their sockets. 15. The eyes will now appear; carefully 
cut the membrane joining the skin and eyeball, making the incision 
as far back as possible, in order to avoid cutting the skin, which should 
be pulled forward until it is entirely free of the eyeball. 16. Remove 
the eyes with the forceps. 17. With the sharp-pointed scissors make 
an incision directly across the roof of the mouth, inside the branches of 
the lower mandible, just back of the skin, and below the eye-sockets. 
18. With the sharp-pointed scissors make incisions from either end of 
this cut back along the branches of the lower mandible through the 
base of the skull on either side of the neck at its junction with the 
skull. 19. Connect these cuts by a fourth, which passes through the 
base of the skull just above the neck, and pull the body and neck from 
the skull. 20. Scoop out what brains remain with the handle of the 
scalpel. 21. Pull the end of the wingbone (humerus) inward, skinning 
the feathers off the bones of the forearm (radius and ulna), and remove 
the flesh. 22. Do the same thing for the legs, but, after cleaning, do 
not in either case pull the bones back. 23. Remove as much flesh as 
possible from the base of the tail, including the oil-gland at the base 
of the tail above. 24. Hold the skin over the arsenic and alum box, 
and with a bit of fluffy cotton at the end of a stick, or held in the forceps, 
dust it thoroughly with the poison, giving an extra allowance to the 
base of the tail and bones of the skull, wings, and legs. 25. Pull the 
legs back into place. 26. Place a fluff of cotton on the end of a wire 
and roll it into a firm, smooth ball, placing one in each eye-socket. 
27. Coax the skin back over the head, using the first two fingers of 
each hand and placing the thumbs at the base of the skull. When the 
tip of the bill appears through the feathers, use the fingers outside, on 
the feathers, pressing the skin back over the head, and keeping the 
thumbs in the same position. When the bill is free, take it with the 
right hand, and use the fingers of the left to urge the skin over the skull, 
being careful to get it in its former place so that the feathers of the 
head will lie smoothly. 28. Dress the feathers of the head, particularly 
those about the eye. 29. Take hold of the tip of the bill and shake 
the skin gently but vigorously to aid in settling the plumage. 30. Lay 
the skin on its back, the bill pointing from you, and turn back the 
*In large-headed birds, like Ducks and Woodpeckers, this is impossible, and 
it is necessary to slit the skin down the back of the neck and push the skull through 
the opening. 
