22 
HINTS ON TAXIDERMY. 
bending or displacing them. The parcel should then be placed in 
a box, sufficiently large to accommodate it without crowding, and 
the remaining space filled with grass, paper or any substance 
more easily obtained ; this will prevent the specimen from being 
injured by friction. In our own portion of the country during 
the colder seasons, also in the more northern latitudes, a bird 
may be allowed to remain (in extreme cases) forty-eight hours 
before the operation of skinning is undertaken, but half the time 
is a safer rule. In the summer season it may be permitted to lie 
until the blood has coagulated and the limbs have stiffend ; but in 
all tropical countries the operation cannot be effected with too 
great dispatch. If the specimen is allowed to remain any length 
of time beyond that above stated, the feathers about the head and 
abdomen are apt to fall off, thus rendering it more difficult to re¬ 
move the skin ; and the specimen often becomes unfit for preser¬ 
vation. Before skinning a bird, particular attention should be 
given to the color of the eyes, bill and legs, because these parts 
are liable to lose their tints after life is extinct, and the color of 
the feathers upon the various parts of the body. Measurements 
should also be taken after the following manner, in feet, inches 
and fractions of an inch: — 
Total length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, the 
neck being stretched out in a straight line ; length of the primary, 
quills of the wing; total length of the bill, measuring either from 
the feathers on the forehead, following the curve of the ridge 
down to the tip, or from the angle of the mouth in a straight line 
to the tip ; the length of the tail feathers from the extremity to 
their insertion in the coccyx, together with their number; the 
length of the tarsus, from the centre of tl*h metatarsal and tarsal 
joints ; length of toes ; length and general character of the nails ; 
the distance between the tips of the wings when spread out to 
their full extent. It should be next observed whether it be male 
or female, young or adult; also, any change of plumage in winter 
or summer; the common name given it in the locality where it 
was collected ; the exact date when it was killed, and every fact 
which can be ascertained concerning its habits. “The sex of the 
specimen may be ascertained after the operation of skinning has 
been completed, by making an incision in the back, near the ver¬ 
tebrae, and exposing the inner surface of the ‘small of the back.’ 
The generative organs will be found tightly bound to this region 
