Col. Hawker, who, when wishing to note down some difficult point, was in the habit of doing with his own hands all things pertaining to the matte

f the toughness of the skin, but also because, being a medium-sized bird, it presents no difficult points in skinning, and with this bir

f the skeleton, I now give an engraving of that of the Peregrine Fa

e operator; then seize the bird by the sides of the head with the first two fingers and thumb of the left hand in opposition, the awl held in the palm of the right hand, and a piece of wool between the right-hand finger and thumb; then insert the point of the awl between the upper and lower mandibles, and, having

d with the fingers of the right hand break or disjoint the bone of the wing as close to the body as possible, i.e., across the "humerus" (E) (in the case of large birds, or for some special purpose, this bone is often left intact, but the amateur will be puzzle

) may also be used for this purpose, but in that case a piece of clean rag should be folded in the jaws of the pliers so as to envelope the upper and under surface of the wing, in order to protect the fe

tip of the tail), make the first incision just on the right side of the breast bone down to the vent, taking care not to cut so deeply as to expose the intestines. Now turn the bill towards your right, and gently lay hold of the cut edge of t

hand may be advantageously employed - but in a very gentle manner - to loosen the skin around the upper part of the breast-bone from the in

ion of First Incision and the Comm

arance which the speci

ake hold of the one nearest to you with the right hand, at the same time inserting the fingers of the left inside the skin; then, by ge

off; it should then be clear of the flesh, showing the skin on either side as if it were a stocking turned inside out. Pull it gently b

with the thumb on the back (which is now underneath), the middle finger on the root of the tail inside, flanked by the first and third fingers keeping down the skin on either side, cautiously insert the knife through the skin of the vent, and cut that free, cutting upward in a slanting direction; havin

lace where the wings have been previously broken is arrived at. Again lay down the knife, and taking up the scissors, cut the wing nearest to you away from the skin; do the same with the other side; and now the only thing which holds skin and body together is the neck. Taking the whole of the body in the h

point. These are the eyes; carefully cut on top of them with a very gentle motion, until they are skinned to where only a very thin membrane hides them from view; arrived at this, the knife-po

ird Turned Ready fo

of the cranium, the shape of which is wanted for subsequent operations. After the body is completely severed, proceed to pull the tongue out (unless wanted for show) by plac

t of the knife, having a small piece of paper in readiness to receive them. During this operation hold the beak of the bird through the skin of the neck by the t

n the feathers. Having done all this, there will still remain some little flesh at the back of the eye and the junction of the mandibles, and this must be carefully cut away so as not to dis-articulate the latter. The Preservative Paste now comes into requisition, and with this the skull and orbi

ly is pushed into the head, as if never so small a piece of wadding gets into the cavity of the head it will effectually prevent any su

he back or even to the breast, which must be as carefully as possible scraped off the skin by using the edge of the knife, guided by the thumb. Having done this,

e head; then, by gently pushing with the thumbs and pulling or scratching, as it were, with the other fingers, gradually force the head through until the mandibles appear, as also the eyelids. Let go with the right hand, still keeping the thumb

ble, running down each side, and framing in, as it were, a little oval-shaped piece of flesh, i.e., that lying between the "radius" and "ulna" The broken bone and flesh of the wing is now toward you. Clean the flesh away from this and then devote the attention to the before-named oval-shaped piece of flesh. Putting the point of the knife down on the right, lift and scoop away (using t

e two - the radius (F, Plate II) may be twisted or cut out entirely, leaving only the larger bone of the two to clear of flesh. Sometimes - but this with large bi

, however, that being situated higher up - Plate II), or tibio-tarsal joint. At this joint a bundle of little "leaders," or muscles, assemble; cut them away from around the bone (without interfering with the joint, however), and they will roll up with the flesh to the head of t

-bone (or tibia) to the supposed shape of the flesh previously removed. Re

t of every particle of flesh by scraping and cutting, taking care to cut away the oil ducts or glands - usually full of a thick fat - and being careful also not to cut away the attachment of t

e back, body, and throat is to be well anointed. Now take the forceps (see Fig. 20), and form a little neck of tow on it, introduce it into the skin, leaving the end of the tow resting against the back of the head. Then insert some larger pieces of tow with the fingers or tongs into the body, and when you have shaped it as nearly as possible to the or

body in the proper position; the neck is also shortened, and a little narrow band of paper is cut, and placed underneath the bird, brought round the butts of the wings or shoulders, and pinned toge

ently dry, the bandage is removed, and thus

through the top of the head, or on a piece of stick (a lucifer match with the top broken off will do for small skins) coming into the ba

much packing as you would at first imagine sufficient to fill it. Be careful as to the set of the wings, at the shoulders especially; and after having coaxed

the following manner (see Fig. 24): Procure a piece of board of the length and width you require, on which nail on edge 0.75-inch slips of wood two inches

or Drying Board

feathers of a bird; how to remove these will be foun

operly Made Into a Sk

ry to cut the body, after it is out of the skin, through the ribs along the side close to the back, open it, and look upon the kid

back bone, two little oval-shaped bodies, usually of a dull white or light yellow tint (do no

metimes difficult to tell the sex - in young birds especially; but a good plan is to get a bird, known by its plumage to be a male - say a cock sparrow - and a female bird, and dissect out these organs

fic and common name of bird, sex, locality, and

S VULGARIS, L

- Mal

irides - D

beak - D

gs & toes -

21/9/83. Co

il - again from inner edge of gape to vent, the bill and tail being measured separately from those points - should be carefully taken, as also the length of culmen, carpus, and tarsus, and set down in inches and tenths, on the label, or in the note book, when the matter becomes too v

the other one then easily follows as a matter of course, and by alternately skinning away the back and the breast, the legs and the tail are arrived at, which are treated as before described. This method is useful in cases where the lower extremities are badly shot or "high," but is otherw

ner than the other way of skinning, but its advantages are enormous. Supposing you have a bird very badly shot, or one with its wing half torn off or ripped underne

easiness between the roots of the feathers; and in spite of the most careful sewing, the capillary action of the thread used in stitching up (aided, of course, by the position of the mounted bird - breast downward) is sufficient to draw to the surface whatever oily fat

e from the back, and as much as possible from the breast, gradually working your way until you see the wing-bone, which cut off. Careful skinning brings you to the neck and windpipe, which also cut off. The whole of one side of the bird is now skinned out with the exception of the tail; come downward on

of its forming part of a collection mounted in the same manner as the birds are mounted in the British Museum - namely, on turned st

al starling we before made into a skin, and shall now moun

ds of warblers and finches up to canaries. 21 is a useful general size for a great number of small birds, and will do for such a bird as the hawfinch. 19 is a good size for thrushes and starlings, and will also do very well for squirrels. 16 is a good useful size for many things - will do for such birds as the landrail or pigeons.

I would here also recommend that "galvanised" be used instead of the common "annealed" wire (never use "hard"

ivory, according to your taste and the length of your pocket. If, on the contrary, you decide to ultimately mount your specimen in a case or a shade, you had better provide yourself with some wire of a suitable strength, and some tow, which latter you

scissors, wire, tow, needle and thread, pins, and some fine darning cotton, which is called "wrapping cotton," you proceed to business thus: The bird being skinned, all the flesh

or the leg wires, cut the three, with the aid of the pliers, a little longer than the body and legs respectiv

say, making the artificial neck somewhat longer than the neck of the skin (if properly taken off and not abnormally lengthened) appears to be. The reason for this is that the natural neck, being carried between the clavicles forming the furculum or "merry-thought,

ed, the shortening of the neck of the mounted specimen depends almost entirely on the absence of stuffing above the shoulders. Be sure, also, not to stuff the skin too

these points. To excel in mounting animals the arts of drawing and modelling from living examples must be cultivated; the amateur taxidermist thus gains the requisite knowledge t

st and back, and narrowest at the lower extremity of the body, where it comes in between the legs to the tail. About an inch of the wire should now be left unbound, which turn up on the back of the false body to p

ver the false body; and lift the starling up and observe what faults are apparent - possibly a little difficulty exists at the shoulders, if so, press them in with the thumbs, and then note if there are any apparently hollow places; if so, fill them out with a lit

ole of the foot, into which push the point of the wire, forcing it up the leg on its under side between the skin and the bone - be careful how you pass under the so-called "knee" joint. Pulling the leg now downward and upward, that is to say, toward the breast, push the wi

stiff and tight, all your labour goes for nothing. Now bring together the skin at the lower p

hrough the natural twig, or wind them round on the false twig and make them secure. Run a fine pin (entomological pin, No. 2) through the shafts of the feathers of the tail to cause them to dry in proper shape, then neatly insert the eyes (putting a small piece of putt

ctice and close attention alone will enable you to do), take the "wrapping cotton," and, having made a loop on one end, fix it to the pin on the back. Bring it across to the pin on one of the wings, and across in a zig-zag manner to the other pins in the wings, binding down the back first. Then attend to the breast and under tail coverts,

tton. The bird being opened on its worst side is stuffed in the usual manner as far as getting the neck up into the skull, the attached body is now bolted through near the top of the cut by the wing, by a l

t wires in the wing at the end of the part called the "metacarpus" (i, Plate II); push it gently along between the bone and the skin - meanwhile holding the wing with the left-hand fingers - along the side of or between the "radius and ulna," finally pushing it into the body at the shoulder, and clenching it when it comes through, which it should do under the opposite wing at the

secured in the body on its own side; next fix the legs in the manner before detailed, or, as the bird is to be represented on flight,

he edge of a table, whilst the hawk or other bird clears its surface. The bird being now "shaped up" a little, take the two thinnest wires and enter the point of one in each wing at the end of the fleshy part of the wing (really the bird's middle finger), or through the base of the first quill, an inch or so from the other wire. Th

"braces," which are narrow strips of cardboard pinned in pairs at intervals below and above the wing, and held in position by pins running through both braces f

lay worked up stiff. (Clay will be treated of in a subsequent chapter. It will be found useful for the faces of some sea-birds and hawks, and i

to binding. They are sold in various lengths, and bein

Let us now take the

ar immediately to the eye of a naturalist. Thus, a bird not wounded, and in perfect feather, must be procured, if possible, for the loss of feathers can seldom be made good; and where the deficiency is great all the skill of the artist

expansion about the throat and stomach, and they fit into the different cavities of the body at the wings, shoulder, rump, and thighs, with wonderful exactness, so that in s

ird is to be entirely skinned, otherwise you can ne

they must be put into the oven to dry; thirdly, the heat of the fire, and the natural tendency all cured flesh has to shrink and become hard, render the specimen withered, distorted, and too small; four

great nuisance, for, when it is introduced, a disagre

osed, extended, or elevated; the tail depressed, raised, or expanded; the thighs

t in, though even this is not absolutely necessary. Part of the wing bones, the jaw bones, and half the t

f the skin from the body, by means of your fingers and a little knife,

the bird, and every now and then take a view

body of the skin rests on your knee; for, if you allow it to

etween the body and it, and this will effectually prevent any fat, blood, or moisture from coming in contact with t

inner skin whole. Attention to this will render your work very clean, so that, with a

still alive, press it hard with your finger and thumb just behind the wings, and it will soon expire. Carry i

tree, carefully remove the clotted blood, and put a little cotton in 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 wate

ross one knee over the other, and have the bird upon the uppermost, you can raise it to your eye, or lower it at pleasure, by means of the fo

a hawk. The little birds will thank us with a song for his death, for he has oppressed them sorel

of corrosive sublimate in alcohol, also a stick like a

our two first fingers and thumb, the edge upwards. You must not keep the point of the knife perpendicular to the body of the bird, because, were you to hold it so, you woul

ion, and separate the skin from the body till you get at the middle joint of the thigh. Cut it through, and do no more there at pre

the root of the tail. Bend the tail gently down to the back, and while your fingers and thumb are keeping down the detached parts of the skin on each side of the vent, cut quite across and deep till you s

and thumb, and now you can hold up the bird clear of yo

r other hand and knife, by cutting and shoving, to get the sk

which lie very deep in the head, and continue skinning till you reach the middle of the eye; cut the nictating membrane quite through, ot

art of the eye, clean well the jaw bones, fasten a little cotton at the end of your stick, dip it into the solut

nee. Keep it there still, and with great caution and tenderness return the head through the inverted skin

t away all the remaining flesh from the palate,

hing it with the solution from the outside. Take all the flesh from the remaining joint of the wing, and tie a thread about four inches long to the end of it, touch all with the solution, and put the wing bone back into its place. In baring this bone you must by no means pull the skin. You would have it to pieces beyond all doubt, for the ends o

ot till you see the ends of the tail feathers, give it the solution and replace it. Now take out all the cott

ly the same space betwixt them as your knowledge of anatomy informs you existed there when the bird was entire, hold the skin open with your

ry, in an oblique direction, of course, as soon as it is cut off, the remaining part of the thigh and leg, having nothing to support them obliquely, must naturally fall to their perpendicular; hence the reason why the legs appear too long. To correct this, take your needle and thread, fasten the end round the bone insi

he shell of the poor hawk ready to receive from your skill and judgment, the size, the shape, the features, and expression it bad ere death and your dissecting hand brought it to its present still and formless state. The cold hand of death stamps deep its mark upon the prostrate victim. When the heart ceases to beat and the blood no longer courses through the veins

t 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

as in nature. A little bit of beeswax at the end of it will keep the mandibles in

m 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

r eye to the size the orbit is capable of receiving it would be far too large. Inattention to this has caused the eyes of every specimen in the best cabinets of natural history to be out of all proportion. To prevent this, contract

tail with the solution, and then you have given to the hawk everything necessary,

th its legs in a sitting posture. The head will fall down; never mind. Get a cork and run three pins into the end, just like a three-legged stool. Place it under the bird's bill, and run the needle, which you formerly fixed there, into the head of the cork. This will su

- prevent this fault by tying a thread to the beak and fastening it to the end of the box with a pin or needle. If you choose to elevate the wings, do so, and support them w

ace them in their true order, and the tail will preserve for ever the expansion you have given it. Is the crest to be erec

the solution of corrosive sublimate is uncommonly serviceable, for, at the same time that it totally prevents putrefaction, it renders the skin moist and flexible for many days.

th the bone which remains in the wing. Pull gently the part that rises with your finger and thumb for a d

render them distinct and visible, correcting at the same time any harshness or unnatural r

d arrange the toes for a standing position, or curve them to your finger. If you wish to set the bird on a branch, bore a little hole under each foot a little way up t

d out of the knees, take away the needle,

ery part of your bird, so that when perching on your finger, if you press it down with the ot

lf to the roots of the feathers. You may take hold of a single one, and from it suspend five times the weight of the bird; you may jerk it, it will still adhere to the akin, and, after repeated trials, often break short. Secondly, as no

lourless. Of course, they cannot leave a stain behind them. The spirit penetrates the pores of the skin with wonderful velocity, deposits invisible

* * * * *

predation of the moth. The surest way of proceeding is to immerse the bird in the solution of corrosive

ill be seen that the two systems are diametrically opposed to each other. I wi

them for mounting, by people totally ignorant of the first principles of taxidermy. Where a great number of feathers are missing, the loss must be repaired by the insertion of similar feathers placed one by one in position by the aid of strong paste, in which a little of the corrosive sublimate

years ago followed Waterton's instructions - to mount a bird entirely without wire, still it is at the best but an amateur's "dodge;" and I can fearlessly as

f persistent bleeding, or clots of extravasated blood occurring. All the rest of the instructions on skinning are sound and practical, except where he advises the knee to be u

annot give character to the heads of the larger birds if you remove the skull (unless, of course, you choose to model it up in clay, etc.., as in the heads of mammals), though I agree that you must free the skin from all its surroundings. I have at the present moment several birds (set

e produced if the false body is unduly large, as then, in place of the evenness so desirable, a division will appear in the centre of the body, which entirely mars the beautiful symmetry of the sea-bird's breast. No per

in the shape of the head is easily rectified through the orbit, the eyelid, of course, being previ

amateur who has unlimited time at his disposal, and who does not object to spend about a couple of days over

Preservatives, and then make up his mind. I may here mention, however, that I should not

he great scientific attainments and love for natural history which distinguished the illustrious traveller, I

bird take a suitable piece of wire about three inches long (pointed at both ends), and bend it down at each end for the distance of an inch, which of course leaves one inch in the middle at a right angle to each end; this is called the wing-bearer.

end will thus be much longer from the loop than the other. Run one end (the longest) right up the body to come out at the crown of the head (the head itself being previously stuffed), push it through a sufficient distance, so that the loope

s before described; when they appear within the skin by the side of the legs, push the ends of each one through the little loop on the body wire, and by the aid of the small pliers and your finger and thumb twist them tightly up or down t

ecommend. Sometimes a cork is pushed on at the main or body wire to act in the place of the loop; the leg w

d is sold by the dealers, in dried cakes about 1 foot long by 6 inches by 2 inches.] Having provided yourself with one of these bricks of peat, you

and, therefore, after it is once in the skin, it cannot be pressed into shape where defects appear, and is of course not so easily altered. After a long and patient trial of the peat body, I have become convinced of its many disadvantages, and have of late years returned to

e, cut with the strong scissors a triangular piece away from the base of the skull, from which extract the brain, and then compress the sides of the face (mandibles) betwe

e crest of the head of a specimen - if a crested bird - or along the sides of the face if failing in this particular; the head may then be carefully skinned, leaving it attached as much as before directed, brains cleared out, eyes extracted, etc.., t

the neck has been cut off), but neither of these plans will bear comparison with "slipping," or with cutting on the crest,

y the side of the face, you must of necessity miss these, or have ten times more trouble in feeling your way to it. If the processes by the side of the face ar

et have as small necks as the former birds, pass easily. Again, the head of the great or crested grebe passes, while that of the little grebe sticks. Of the three woodpeckers found in Britain, the heads of the great-spotted and lesser-s

h the hands of the professional, spoiled by a neglect or ignorance of this rule, it would be impossible to say, nor are amateurs the only offenders in this particular. Grebes, etc.., which have wings hardly suffi

sult that I now think no birds, excepting the very largest, perhaps, should ever be opened on the breast. I am quite convinced that if a person of any experience makes up his mind never to skin a bird by any other way than by the side or back, he will have no reason to ever regret his decision. Should a bird be required for flight, un

ritten upon birds out of their proper natural order; the reason being that birds are always selected because of easiness of treatment for t