300 
ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 
Preserving same time forming your specimen a trifle larger than 
-— life, to make up for what it will lose in drying, you 
will reproduce a bird that will please you. 
It is now time to introduce the cotton for an 
artificial body, by means of the little stick like a 
knitting needle; and without any other aid or sub¬ 
stance than that of this little stick and cotton, your 
own genius must produce those swellings and cavi¬ 
ties, that just proportion, that elegance and harmony 
of the whole so much admired in animated nature, 
so little attended to in preserved specimens. After 
you have introduced the cotton, sew up the orifice 
you originally made in the belly, beginning at the 
vent. And from time to time, till you arrive at the 
last stitch, keep adding a little cotton, in order that 
there may be no deficiency there. Lastly, dip your 
stick into the solution, and put it down the throat three 
or four times, in order that every part may receive it. 
When the head and neck are filled with cotton 
quite to your liking, close the bill as in nature. 
A little bit of bees’ wax at the point of it, will 
keep the mandibles in their proper place. A 
needle must be stuck into the lower mandible per¬ 
pendicularly. You will shortly see the use of it. 
Bring also the feet together by a pin, and then run 
a thread through the knees, by which you may draw 
them to each other, as near as you judge proper. 
Nothing now remains to be added but the eyes. 
With your little stick make a hollow in the cotton 
within the orbit, and introduce the glass eyes through 
the orbit. Adjust the orbit to them, as in nature, 
and that requires no other fastener. 
