How to stuff birds and animals

by Aaron A. Warford

A fair specimen being obtained, take common cotton wadding, and with an ordinary paint-brush stick plug the throat, nostrils, and, in large birds, the ears, with it, so that when the skin is turned no juices may flow and spoil the feathers; you must then provide yourself with the following articles: A knife of this kind is very common; a pair of cutting pliers, a pair of strong scissors, of a moderate size; a button-hook, a marrow-spoon, and a hand-vise. With these, a needle and thread and a sharpener of some kind, to give your knife an occasional touch, you are prepared, so far as implements go. Then provide yourself with annealed iron wire of various sizes; some you may buy ready for use, some not; but you can anneal it yourself by making it red hot in the fire, and letting it cool in the air. Common hemp is the next article, cotton wadding, pounded whitening, and pounded alum, or chloride of lime; as to the poisons which are used, they will be spoken of by and by. You should also have a common brad-awl or two, and some pieces of quarter-inch pine whereon to stand the specimens when preserved, if to be placed as walking on a plane; if not, some small pieces of twigs or small branches of trees should be kept ready for use, of various sizes, according to the size of the bird; something of the form of Fig. 9. Cedar, or common laurel cut in December, will be found to answer best, but this must be regulated by fancy and the requirements of the case; oak-boughs are sometimes of a good shape.

Fig. 9.

Branch for mounting a bird.

The best time for preserving specimens is in spring, because then the cock birds are in the best feather, and the weather is not too warm. In mild weather three days is a good time to keep a bird, as then the skin will part from the flesh easily. If a specimen has bled much over the feathers, so as to damage them, wash them carefully but thoroughly with warm water and a sponge, and immediately cover them with pounded whitening, which will adhere to them. Dry it as it hangs upon them slowly before the fire, and then triturating the hardened lumps gently between the fingers, the feathers will come out almost as clean as ever. To test whether the specimen is too decomposed to skin, try the feathers about the auriculars, and just above the tail, and if they do not move you may safely proceed.

Lay the bird on his back, and, parting the feathers from the insertion of the neck to the tail, you will find in most birds a spare space. Cut the skin the whole length of this, and, passing the finger under it on either side, by laying hold of one leg and bending it forward, you will be able to bring the bare knee through the opening you have made; and with your scissors cut it through at the joint; pull the shank still adhering to the leg till the skin is turned back as far as it will go: denude the bone of flesh and sinew, wrap a piece of hemp round it, steeped in a strong solution of the pounded alum, and then pull the leg by the claw, by which means the skin will be brought again to its place.

Fig. 10.

After having served both legs alike, skin carefully round the back, cutting off and leaving in the tail with that into which the feathers grow, that is, the “Pope’s nose.” Serve the wing-bones the same as the leg, cutting them off close to the body, and turn the skin inside out down to the head. The back of the skull will then appear, and you will now find it of advantage, as soon as you have got the legs and tail free, to tie a piece of string round the body, and hang it up as a butcher skins a sheep. Make in the back of the skull a cut of the annexed form, with your knife, which you can turn back like a trap-door, and with the marrow-spoon entirely clear out the brains; A representing the neck, and B the skin turned back. Having done this, wash the interior of the skull thoroughly with the alum, and fill it with cotton wadding. The next operation requires care and practice—namely, to get out the eyes. This is done by cutting cautiously until the lids appear, being careful not to cut the eye itself, and you can then, with a forceps, which you will likewise find useful, pull each from its socket; wipe the orifice carefully, wash it with the alum solution, and fill it with cotton wadding. Cut off the neck close to the skull, wash the stump, and the whole of the interior of the skin with the alum, and the skinning is done.

Fig. 11.