SKINNING BIBBS. 
453 
perhaps, better, it is not absolutely necessary to give their proper names. Small 
labels can be purchased from dealers in naturalists’ supplies or from tag manufac¬ 
turers at very reasonable rates : 
Label ready for specimen.* 
Collection of B. II. Warren, West 
© Chester, Pa. 
O 
. Sialia sialis, L. c? ad. 
o 
£ 1 - 
Elk county. Pa.. June 10, 1890. 
Label without data. 
Always tie the label to the legs, never to any other part of the specimen. The 
astronomical symbols of Mars (tf) and Venus (9) are used by ornithologists to in¬ 
dicate sex, thus cf=inale and 9=female; an adult is usually marked $ ad., or 9 ad. 
The abbreviations “Juv.,” and “Yg.,” are used to indicate immaturity; “ Nupt." 
shows that the specimen is in breeding dress, and “Aorwo<” means a yearling or 
bird of the year. 
Many persons, who have never witnessed the operation, regard the skinning of a 
bird as an exceedingly difficult task ; one which can be accomplished only by ex¬ 
perts who have had long practical experience. This work is by no means difficult, 
and it can easily be done, although at first to a beginner it will doubtless lie a little 
bothersome. Skins of small birds are made much more quickly than large ones. 
A skillful taxidermist should be able to make a good skin of a thrush, blackbird, 
sparrow, warbler or almost any small bird, if properly shot, in at least ten minutes, 
but an average of four or five skins an hour is good work, and it means twenty to 
thirty specimens m a day, if you go out collecting in the morning and return by 
noon and work up the birds before going to bed. I know a skillful collector, who, 
on one occasion, to win a wager, made a No. 1 skin of a song sparrow in five minutes, 
this, however, was exceptionally rapid work. 
Long practice will enable one to work rapidly, and at the same time do the work 
well. It is, however, far more essential to prepare a few specimens properly, than 
it is to make up a large lot of inferior skins, hence start with the determination to 
make only first-class skins. It is much better to make one or two No. 1 skins in a 
day, than twenty bad ones, but don’t throw away a poor skin unless you have du¬ 
plicates of the same species. Like the learned and experienced practitioner of medi¬ 
cine, who says he uses but few remedies, of which opium, quinine, calomel, bread- 
pills, colored aqua pur a , and a few more, are his “stand-bys,” you will find, as all 
practical taxidermists of years’ experience well know, that but few instruments are 
required in making skins. A bird can be skinned with either a knife or scissors, 
but when skinning small birds a knife is unnecessary and much less handy than a 
strong pair of sharp-pointed surgical scissors. In removing the skins of large birds, 
a cartilage knife or pocketknifo with which to disarticulate the joints and a pair of 
bone-cutters, to aid in removing the brains or in severing the large wing-bones, are 
very useful. When once accustomed to working with scissors, you will find them 
the most convenient of all instruments. 
The instruments and materials used in making skins are : 
A pair of sharp-pointed surgical scissors, costing from fifty to seventy-five cents; 
a pair of stuffing forceps, five to eight inches long, seventy-five cents to a dollar ; 
cartilage-knife, scalpel or pocket knife, about seventy-five cents ; pair of pliers with 
wire-cutting attachment on the side, about seventy-five cents ; some prefer pliers 
without wire-cutting side attachment, and two pairs of wire cutters, one for large 
wire and the other for wire of smaller sizes ; two fiat files, ten to twenty-five cents 
each ; a “filler” or stuffing-rod, which yop can make of stout brass wire flattened 
♦Colors of eyes, bill, etc., with contents of crop and stomach, can be written on the reverse side of 
label. Labels of this style, with strings and printed name and address of the collector, cost about $2.00 
per 1.000. 
