means a bullet nl aesgi 
in the \itallppt 5$Prl^ 
a sureness and forte 
that kills^instantlW 
SOUO TOP 
Oct. io, 1908.] 
HOW TO SKIN A BIRD. 
Continued from page 576. 
cotton or tow, each half as large as the bird’s 
body, and introduce them, one on either side of 
the neck stick, so as just about to fill the cavity 
of the body. Pull the two edges of the cut to¬ 
gether and secure them either by two or three 
stitches with a needle and thread or by a pin. 
Now comes what is really the most difficult 
part of the work; that is, the arrangement of 
the wings so that they shall occupy the natural 
position. Take each wing by the quill feathers 
of its extremity and then seizing the secondaries 
—those feathers which grow on the radius and 
ulna, and which you stripped away with your 
thumb nail when you were doing the skinning— 
pull them down on those bones as far as possi¬ 
ble, bending the wing at the wrist and giving 
the wing a shake. Fold the wing as naturally 
as you can against the bird’s body and perform 
the same operation on the other side. Holding 
the bird, breast downward in your left hand, grasp 
the feathers of the back and pull them upward 
and inward—i. e., toward the middle line of the 
bird’s back—trying to bring the shoulders as 
close together as may be. Both wings should 
now be partially folded and the shoulders to¬ 
gether. 
Now, holding the wings in the same position, 
place the bird on its back on the table, and on 
either side of it, and close to the wings and 
body, put a roll of cotton or tow to support the 
wings, and then complete the folding of the 
wings, pushing each one forward as nearly as 
possible in a natural position. The feathers of 
the breast should be lifted toward the head and 
then allowed to fall down over the margin of 
the wing, and if the wing is properly placed and 
supported in the right position by the roll under 
it, it will lie close to the body and covered by 
the feathers of the fore part and side of the 
breast. The usual trouble in getting these parts 
of the bird just right is that the wing is not 
pushed sufficiently far forward toward the head, 
and down toward the back. In other words, the 
wing is not folded right, or if folded right, it 
does not lie in its proper relation to the body. 
If you see a living bird or a dead bird that has 
its wings in the proper place, you will see that 
the bend of the wing lies well up toward the 
neck, and that the shoulders are close together. 
The tips of the wings are likely to cross over 
the rump, or if they do not cross over the rump 
they touch each other there, while the wrist of 
the bird—the bend of the wing—lies close to the 
side of the breast and well forward. 
After the wings are as nearly as may be in 
position, cross the bird’s legs and tie them to¬ 
gether with a bit of thread, and to this thread 
tie a slip of paper on which you have written 
the place and date where and when the bird was 
killed, and the name of the person who killed it. 
After all this has been done and your bird is 
lying in its proper position you must keep it 
there, in order that it may dry in that position. 
To this end it will be necessary to move it to 
some place where it will be undisturbed for three 
or four days. If it is properly supported by the 
rolls of cotton that you have put under its sides 
and shoulders, you will do well to move it as 
little as possible. The simplest thing for you 
to do is to bring together the sides of the news¬ 
paper on which you skinned it and pin those 
sides together and close over the bird, so that 
the newspaper shall support the head, neck and 
tail and the rolls which keep the wings in place. 
If you do this you will have a long trough— 
after it is pinned together, a cylinder—of news¬ 
paper which, supporting the bird on all sides, 
can be carried off somewhere and put on a high 
shelf or in some position where it will not be 
disturbed until the moisture has dried out of 
the skin and the skin has become stiffened so 
that it will not change its position. 
As in many birds the male, female and young 
wear different plumages, and as the plumage of 
many birds changes with the season of the year, 
it is worth while for you always to determine 
by dissection the sex of the birds which you 
have skinned. This you can do without much 
trouble if you go at it in the right way. The 
genital organs of birds lie close under the back- 
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