12 
look into the crop or craw, if it be a strange bird, to ascertain, 
if possible, the food on which it subsists. 
Having thus ascertained its sex, size, food, the whole, with 
the time and place at which killed, its habits, if they can be 
known, and every thing else relating to it, in anywise inter¬ 
esting, should be carefully noted down, and a copy thereof, in 
the form of a label, attached to the specimen. 
Great care should be taken in skinning birds to prevent the 
plumage from being soiled with the blood or oil. If either 
should get on the specimen, it should be immediately removed 
with a soft rag and warm water. A little weak lie or weak 
solution of pearlash may be necessary to remove the oil. Be 
careful to wet the feathers as little as possible. When the bird 
being operated upon is very fat, it maybe necessary to sprinkle 
powdered chalk, wheat bran, or other drying powder on the 
body occasionally during the process of skinning.* 
If possible, one of each sex, full grown, and one or two of 
the young should be obtained. 
Finally, after having partially stuffed and prepared the skin, 
as directed, it should be laid out on a table or board, its plu¬ 
mage carefully smoothed down, its wings closely approximated 
to its side, and several strips of paper pinned entirely around it, 
and thus laid away for packing. 
No bird should be skinned that has lost any of its wing or 
tail feathers,or whose body-plumage has been seriously injured. 
The directions given for preparing the skeletons of quadru¬ 
peds will suffice to enable any one to prepare those of birds 
for transportation. 
Birds might, perhaps, be preserved in spirits, but it would 
be at the cost of the plumage. 
In preparing the skeleton, notes should be taken and a label 
prepared in the same manner as in the skin. 
Whenever practicable, a nest and eggs of the same species of 
bird as those prepared should be obtained. The eggs may be 
preserved by making a small hole at each end of the shell and 
* There is another process of skinning birds, by making the 'first incision 
under the wing or the side. It is not deemed necessary, however, to describe it. 
