Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-09-12

Lay the bird upon its back with the tail
toward you, and with the left hand part the
feathers on the breast bone to the right and
left, and you will usually find a space desti-
tute of feathers Proceed with your knife to
cut the outer skin from the middle of the
breast bone down to the vent. Put the skin
to the right and left down toward the back
until the thighs appear, which you must de-
detach from the body with your scalpel or
knife Proceed to push the skin gently tow
ard the back and cut back bone and flesh
where the tail joins the body. Take hold of
the rump with the left hand and, holding the
bird up, push the skin gently down toward
the wings and detach them close to the body
then proceed till you come to the ears and
eyes, which you separate from the skull easily
with your knife and thumb nail. You can
separate the body by cutting close of to the
skull and taking the eyes out, also the brains
the latter from small hole made in the
bottom of the skull After cleaning the skull,
skin the wings and legs of the bird by pulling
them inside, and take OFF the flesh, leaving
the bone in. As you now have the birds skin
wrong side out you can shake it around few
times in your box of dry arsenic and enough
will adhere to the moist skin to effectually
preserve it. 1t is necessary to put two small
balls of cotton in the eye holes in the skull.
The birds skin should now be turned back,
by gently pulling the skin over the skull un-
til the bill appears through the neck ON the
feather side. Take hold of the bill with your
forceps and pull gently until the skin is back
over the skull and this will leave the skin in
the condition in which it is to be mounted.
Make body of excelsior the size and shape
of the one taken out by winding the excelsior
with cotton thread. Sharpen four wires about
one-third the size of the leg; one wire is run
through the manufactured body and clinched
in the body at the rump end little cotton
should be wound around the wire protruding
on the other end, so as to make it the size of
the neck in the original body. Put this wire
up through the neck of the bird and stick it
through the skull out of the top of the head.
Lay the bird upon its back, and taking the
foot with one hand, insert another sharp wire
through the sole of the foot inside the skin
until it appears from the inside then join it
to the body about the ssine place as the nat.
ural leg was attached, Fhe same must be
done to the other leg, when they can be closed
up and the skin sewed up. After setting the
bird on a stand by fastening by the wires pro-
truding from the soles of the feet you can ca
silly bend the legs aud neck into the natural
position, and wire inserted at the base of
the tail into the body, with the prOtruding
end claspCd horizontally across the tail, will
give You the opportunity to place the tail in
any ueHHvu position. ne wings Gun now De
pinned to the body in their natural place, and
the whole body bound with cotton thread,
which is to be bound lightly around. The
artificial eyes can now be put in from the out
side; the eyes will adhere to the cotton in
the eyeholes, with the assistance of little
mucilAge. The thread used is the same ms
that used in the manufacture of cotton cloth.
The instruments that are necessary can be
procured at any taxidermists store. In skin
ming the bird Indian meal should be used lib
orally, as it absorbs blood and moisture also
it keeps the feathers from stickingto the body,
thereby facilitating your labor The same
principle, with notifications to meet the diff
ference in species, will apply to all matters
of this kind. Toronto Globe