294 
ON PRESERVING BIKES. 
Preserving you detach the skin from the body, you must put 
-— cotton immediately betwixt the body and it ; and 
this will effectually prevent any fat, blood, or moisture 
from coming in contact with the plumage. Here it 
may be observed that, on the belly you find an inner 
skin, which keeps the bowels in their place. By a 
nice operation with the knife, you can cnt through 
the outer skin, and leave the inner skin whole. At¬ 
tention to this will render your work very clean ; so 
that, with a little care in other parts, you may skin 
a bird without even soiling your finger ends. 
As you can seldom get a bird without shooting 
it, a line or two on this head will be necessary. 
If the bird be still alive, press it hard w T ith your 
finger and thumb, just behind the wings, and it 
will soon expire. Carry it by the legs, and. then 
the body being reversed, the blood cannot escape 
down the plumage through the shot holes. As 
blood will often have issued out before you have 
laid hold of the bird, find out the shot holes, by 
dividing the feathers with your fingers, and blowing 
on them, and then, with your penknife, or the leaf 
of a tree, carefully remove the clotted blood, and 
put a little cotton on the hole. If, after all, the 
plumage has not escaped the marks of blood; or if 
it has imbibed slime from the ground, wash the part 
in water, without soap, and keep gently agitating 
the feathers, with your fingers, till they are quite 
dry. Were you to wash them, and leave them to 
dry by themselves, they would have a very mean 
and shrivelled appearance. 
