SKINNING BIRDS. 
457 
leg as just described, and be liberal in the use of cornmeal at all stages of the skin- 
ning process, as it prevents the feathers from being soiled and adhering to the flesh, 
so as to retard your progress. Separate with the Angers the skin from both thighs 
and cut tail oft' where it joins the body, leaving, however, the small piece of bone 
attached to the quills. Tn the fingers and thumb of one hand, take the end of the 
body* * * § from which tail was dissevered, and with the other hand carefully _ push f (not 
pull) the skin from back, sides and breast until shoulders are exposed. Then cut 
through the humeral bones, close to the shoulder joints, or disarticulate the latter 
and continue to work carefully until the skin is turned inside out as shown in the 
preceding illustration (page 456 ). 
The neck can be skinned to th base of the skull J without any difficulty, but the 
head must be handled cautiously ; by gently working with thumb and fingers, it 
can be pushed and drawn through ; detach the ears with the thumb nail or a blunt 
pointed instrument—handle of scalpel or piece of wood—never cut them off with 
knife or scissors. Now work the skin forward until the eyes are reached, then cut 
the membranes about the upper part of the sockets and take each eye out by push¬ 
ing behind it and to the lower part of the orbit the handle of a scalpel, blade of 
knife or scissors—if you can use either of the last two mentioned instruments and 
not cut into the eye—and pry gently upward and outward until it slips out; cut the 
thin membranes which adhere between the eye and eyelids, but in doing this be 
very careful to not injure the eyelids. Avoid cutting or breaking the eyes, as fluids 
will escape from them and soil plumage of head and neck. Skin the head down to 
base of bill, cut out tongue, clean all meat from skull, remove base of skull, take 
out brains, and the thin bony walls which supported the eye balls posteriorly. Turn 
wings§ inside out by skinning them to wrist joint (bend of wing) or carpus; the 
secondary quills grow to the back part of the ulna, these can be separated by press¬ 
ing downward from back part of elbow joint with thumb nail, but if the handle of 
a knife or back of scissor blade is used, you will run less risk of wounding your¬ 
self, from a bone splinter if either ulna or radius is fractured. When the wrist is 
reached, cut away all flesh, likewise the radius and also the arm bone and its sur¬ 
rounding muscles. Having “cleaned out” both wings in the same way and scraped 
oft* all the fat and meat from the skin, and taken out the oil glands over the base 
of tail feathers, take a short piece of thread and tie the wing-bones (Fig. III. BB) 
nearly together, to hold wings in position when skin is turned right side out. Cover 
the whole flesh side of the skin with arsenic and alum,|| using a soft brush, a piece 
•of cotton, or rabbits foot from which the claws have been removed. Rub the poison 
on skull, about the base of tail and around the wing bones, and with a piece of wire 
push some of the powder down the wrist. Don’t, under any circumstance, be stingy 
in the use of the preservative, far better have too much arsenic than not enough. 
Turn the wings right side out by pulling gently on the long primaries, and at the 
* Large birds may be hung up, by inserting a hook in the rump, or slipping a loop knot made with strong 
string or rope around the body in front of thighs. By doing this you have both hands free to work with. 
t Frequently at this stage the upper part of the first cut, at lower portion of the sternum, is enlarged: 
this can often be avoided by separating the skin from the breast before starting to turn the skin inside 
out. When the incision is considerably enlarged sew it up. 
t Some birds, for example the Pileated woodpecker and wood duck, have such small necks that it is im¬ 
possible to turn them over the heads. With such a bird skin the neck down and cut it off (sever, of 
course, the denuded neck, not the skin) as close as possible to the skull, then turn skin right side out 
and skin the head. This is best done by making a straight incision from the top of the head down the 
back of the neck: turn the head out of the opening and clean the skull. After the head has been 
thoroughly cleaned and poisoned turn it right side out and sew up the cut. 
§ When skinning large birds I cut muscles, etc., from arm bones, which 1 wrap with tow to replace 
meat taken off. and allow them to remain in the skin: and in place of skinning out the fore-arm, as above 
described, make incisions, lengthwise or under surface of wings—along the fore-arm and carpus—(See 
Fig. VII. C) and remove all fiesh. tendons and fat. These parts should then be thoroughly poisoned 
and the incisions sewed. By treating large birds in this manner you avoid tearing the secondary quills 
from the ulna to which they are firmly attached. When mounting small birds, if you have an abund¬ 
ance of time, follow this method of fixing the wings, 
il If you are afraid to use this powder poison the skin with paste made of arsenic and alcohol. 
